More Than Melody
by NeoNails
Summary: Like most stories in her life, this one began and ended in Allen's.  But ultimately, the beginning and the ending weren't that spectacular. It was the middle that was mindblowing.
1. He's Had a Blistered Love

This was another little plot that I always wanted to play around with but never really had much time. Now that I'm on vacation (well, essentially) I kind of want to start a new project. I should know better than to try, because I'm nearly done with _Don't Call It a Comeback_ and I know if I stretch myself too thin I'm going to lose inspiration. But—I _will_ complete _Comeback_ before the month is over (I really, really hope).

I have no guarantees when this will be finished, mostly because, well, I have no clue how long this will be. It will be on the Mature-side, that much is for sure. So it'll stay M, because I always prefer to air on the side of caution.

Major props go to _Trust Issues_, by **Kitty Invictus** because I had been rereading her fic when it occurred to me to finally go through with this idea. Her story is cool _and_ sexy, and maybe if more of you check it out she'll update it again. ;)

Very very loose spoilers for the end of season 2, but I don't think you have to worry about me predicting anything for next season. I'm just using the Africa nonsense as a set-up.

$4$

_Hey, Mr. Love, I've been singin' and still  
>There's a hole in my heart only a man can fill<br>And he's had a blistered love and we're sharin' a bed  
>But he's not in a state to be readily left in my hands<em>

- "More Than Melody," by Anna Nalick

* * *

><p>Like most stories in her life, this one began and ended in Allen's.<p>

She really needed to find a new bar. Preferably one less spook-ish. Her only friends were all spies, and even then they were mostly associates at best. She had one actual friend, something that desperately needed to be remedied. The longest conversation she had with someone that wasn't Auggie was with Joan. And the longest conversation she had with someone that wasn't Auggie or her boss was with Jai for about 45 seconds. And she didn't even like Jai that much anymore.

She truthfully hadn't expected Auggie to come back. People don't just leave for Africa for undoubtedly gorgeous women and then come right back to work in boring old D.C. When he left, she expected Joan to call her into her office and gently let her know that Auggie would be staying in Africa for the rest of time. Oh, and he was about to get married to that girl. That day.

She was being melodramatic, but at that point in time she honestly believed that it was the most likely course of events. She only had a few days to wallow in her own misery, anyway, because immediately after Joan assigned her to what amounted to a crapton of desk duty and mandated psych evals for the next month and a half. The CIA took discharging a weapon a few times into a murderous assassin very seriously.

She didn't have a whole lot of time to focus on much of anything, except possibly on those rare occasions when she wanted to go out. Danielle was dealing with her treacherous jackass of a husband, and even if she wasn't there was still Chloe and Katia. While she loved eating ice cream and bitching with her big sis, sometimes a girl needed a little more than Breyers and a gabfest.

Unfortunately, her only drinking buddy was declaring his everlasting love on completely different continent, so she was pretty much shit out of luck.

Around the time she was seriously considering trolling some pathetic club for either some female friends or maybe a half-decent if somewhat-clueless boyfriend or an equal rock-bottom, Auggie showed up. No notice, no declaration, and especially no explanation. She just came into work one morning and he was… there. Back at his usual spot, looking like he'd never been gone in the first place.

Truthfully, she hadn't known what to do. In lieu of making a real decision, she slunk back to her cubicle and pretended she hadn't just spotted her (former?) best friend after his nearly two-month long absence. Yes, it was absolutely the cowardly way out but she was at a loss of ideas.

She knew next to nothing about this girl that he had travelled practically halfway around the world to meet. She remembered him mentioning something months ago about some girl he'd met at one of his soldier buddy's memorials, but surely he couldn't have been dating her for that long without mentioning _something_ to her. It was totally possible that it could be another Africa-chick entirely. It wasn't as though he had some history with long-term relationships.

She stayed in her depressing cubicle, barely half-paying attention to the countless files she was supposed to be translating, but really sneaking peeks at the man in question whenever she had the chance. It was ridiculous, but did he look tanner? Granted, he _had_ spent over a month and a half in Africa, so a tan wasn't completely out of the question, but she had never seen him like this. It was quite possible his skin was darker than hers. Okay. Maybe not _that_ tan.

He was definitely in need of a haircut. He normally rocked the shaggy and unkempt look quite well, but this looked less stylish-without-trying than it did hadn't-been-near-scissors-in-weeks. She smiled because despite her inner criticisms she did always like it when his hair curled around his ears.

Almost as if he knew she was staring at him, Auggie's head tilted towards the glass, practically locking eyes with her. Guilty even though there was no possible way she could have been caught, Annie turned her head back to her desk. Right. Work.

* * *

><p>"Annie!"<p>

She nearly jumped out of her chair when his words cut through her headphones. She'd been in the midst of translating a particular boring phone call between two Iraqi men, and while she had been wishing that she was doing anything _other_ than translating a phone call between two Iraqi men, she had been focused on the task at hand. She had been completely caught off guard when she finally heard her name.

She yanked her earbuds out of her ears and stared up at Auggie in surprise. She truly hadn't expected to talk to him today, and she definitely hadn't expected him to come over and talk to her personally. They hadn't spoken a single word in seven weeks. Were they just supposed to pick up where they left off?

"Hey," she said. She tried to sound neutral. It didn't really work.

He probably expected her to respond with something more than a rather lame greeting, because there was a pregnant pause that made Annie want to crawl under her desk and hide for the rest of the day. But Auggie took it in stride, grinning widely and making her heart droop just the tiniest bit. "Being gone so long has made me miss good old-fashioned American bars, and in particular my favorite drinking buddy. You up for going out tonight?'

She stared up at him, tracing features she thought she'd memorized long ago with renewed vigor. A bitchy part of her brain wanted to turn him down, lie about some plans and snub him so he would understand how much it sucked to be ditched with barely any forewarning. But, crazy as it sounded, she missed his eyes, even if they would never be able to see her. "Sure," she replied softly.

"Great," Auggie said, giving her a wink and a hip-check before heading back to his office. Annie followed his movements, blinking slowly. So, she and Auggie were going out for drinks. After his two-month absence. Just like that.

Wait. What the fuck?

* * *

><p>Amazingly, going out to Allen's is no different than it had been pre-Africa. Well, maybe not <em>amazingly<em>, exactly. She and Auggie were still best friends, so she never would have expected anything less. She still understood his rather self-deprecating humor, he still loved her ridiculous family stories. Two months in a different country wasn't going to change that.

Annie was still expecting a change, that said. They talked about everything, from Joan chaining her to desk duty ad infinitum to the few colorful conversations he'd had with his brothers in the last year. They talked about everything _except_ whatever the hell went down in Africa.

Not that she noticed. Much.

"So, how are the company-mandated therapy sessions going?" Auggie asked, stirring her out of her contemplative thoughts.

Annie shrugged, mostly out of habit than necessity. "About as good as can be expected, I guess," she muttered, finishing off the last dregs of her beer. She was driving them, so she wasn't going to drink any more than this, and she noticed Auggie seemed to be following suit.

There was a bitterness to her words that she didn't intend, but couldn't stop, either. She understood the policy, understood the effects of PTSD, understood the danger any mental unstableness could have on the life of an agent. But that didn't mean she was going to be all kinds of cheery about it.

Auggie's expression contracted, his head tilting to the side as his hand reached out across the table. She wasn't sure if that was an invitation for her to take it, but she wasn't in the mood for affection at the moment. "I didn't talk to you about Stockholm before I left," he said, and the genuine concern on his face nearly broke her. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's fine," Annie replied, her voice gruffer than it had been moments before, looking away from him and his large, warm, comforting hand on the table. She was a big girl. She had been taking care of herself long before Auggie came around.

Auggie's eyebrows knitted, like he sensed her lie but was nice enough to not call her out on it for once. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," she answered once more, staring at the modest crowd gathered around the bar. She hated it when it was packed.

That was a lie, too. She was not fine. In the past week, she'd had two nightmares about the shooting. And it was only Monday. She was very un-fine.

Again, his expression gave and she knew he sensed her lie. Funny, he got these but he couldn't tell she never smiled in the Corvette. She flinched almost automatically, ashamed at the thought. He was her best friend, and she desperately needed to stop putting him on a pedestal. He was just as capable of being wrong as she was.

"So I guess that means you don't want to talk about it," he said gently, his fingers curling into a soft fist. Annie saw hurt in his expression.

Guilt washed over her, and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. It made her want to act out. "Do you want to talk about whatever happened in Africa?" she asked. It was a dirty move, way under the belt for their relationship, but his questions and concern were getting under her skin.

He sat back in surprise, eyes widening at her response. When he exhaled, he managed a smile. Not a real one, something twisted with bitterness and regret. "Touché," he said, setting both his wrists on the table and letting his shoulders slump. "I guess I deserved that."

Annie looked away. Jai was by the bar, surrounded by some pretty young things. Somehow he managed to sense her stare, but she looked away before he could determine why she couldn't look Auggie in the eye.

"You don't deserve that," she murmured apologetically. She ran her fingers through her hair, ruffling her wavy blonde locks as she tried to figure out the right way to have this conversation. She couldn't think of anything.

"Listen, I'm sorry," she said tiredly, pushing her chair back and standing up. "I don't think I can do this at Allen's just yet."

Annie was just about to cut and run when Auggie looked up. "We can go back to my place if you want," he offered. She would've said no, she really would have, but there was something plaintive in his voice that she so rarely heard from him and before she could think twice the affirmative was slipping past her lips.

As Auggie gratefully grabbed his things, she couldn't imagine how doing this in his apartment was any better. But she had been wrong before.

* * *

><p>Being back at Auggie's felt better than she expected. Even better than when they were happy and joking around for that brief half-hour in the Tavern.<p>

They only drank a little more than at Allen's, so she barely had a buzz. The positive was that there was a distinct lack of pressure in Auggie's apartment than there was at the Tavern; there, she had to worry about appearances and her coworkers and microexpressions. She could just relax at Auggie's without the fear of judgment or Joan finding out in the morning.

Swirling the contents of her beer, she glanced over at Auggie on the other end of the couch thoughtfully. "I am sorry," she said lowly, finally giving up and setting down her mostly empty beer on the coffee table.

Auggie's shoulders bunched, and she wasn't sure if it was from frustration or anger or defensiveness. "There's really nothing for you to apologize for," he replied evasively, and she frowned because his poker face was a little too good for her liking.

"That's really not true," she said, tucking her feet under her and turning to face him better across the couch. "I've been—well, for lack of a better word, I've been really frustrated these last few months and I keep taking it out on pretty much everybody but me."

He grinned somewhat grimly, cocking his head towards her. "I'm pretty sure that whole frustration thing has been going around," he responded. "You don't have to worry about being alone in that respect."

What she really wanted to know was how alone she was in other respects. She didn't like to think that way, but after Stockholm and Africa, similar thoughts had been running rampant for the last several weeks. She was hardly prepared for a long-term relationship, but she had to admit it would be nice to have someone to greet after a mission.

It was a sense of loneliness, so acute it took her breath away. Even with Auggie back, the feeling hadn't lessened any. If anything, it felt worse than before.

If she was going to be 100-percent honest with herself, with Auggie coming home came the knowledge that they were best friends, and that was all it was ever going to be. There was no chance of the two of them ever being together. At least, she rationalized, it happened early on, when she had barely recognized her sort of crush on him. She could move on without fear of heartbreak or ruining their friendship.

Inhaling shakily, Annie leaned over and picked up her beer, draining it completely. Eyeing the smooth aluminum can, she admitted to him, "I think I just need to get laid."

They were always extremely honest with one another, but she realized they had never been that candid before. Still, that couldn't stop the smile from curving across her lips as he choked on his beer, a direct result of drinking and snorting and laughing at the same time.

Keeping her own chuckle in check, she leaned over and pulled a few napkins off the coffee table and pressed them against his shoulder. Auggie took them gratefully, covering his mouth as he coughed a few more times.

"All better?" she asked softly, a smirk still flitting around her face. She didn't take enjoyment out of his pain, but his surprise and overreaction had her biting her lip in amusement.

"Yeah, just—you took me off-guard," he muttered, still pressing the napkins to his mouth. He coughed one last time, broad shoulders shaking. "Wasn't exactly expecting that from you, Walker."

"Well, we are best friends," she replied pointedly, badly keeping her grin in check. Reaching over, she playfully poked his side with her toes. "And it's not like I haven't heard worse about you."

At her lighthearted jibe, he caught her ankle before she could pull away. Her breath hitched a little at the contact—she couldn't remember the last time they were close—but the familiar smile on his face made her muscles unclench. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, his tone caught somewhere between danger and amusement as his thumb brushed her anklebone a few times.

"I think given what I've been told far too many times about your after-hours habits I have more than enough right to make some jabs of my own," she observed, wiggling her toes against his side when he didn't let go immediately. "Not that I would ever even be able to come close to beating your record."

Auggie's eyes narrowed and she laughed happily, even when his grip tightened pointedly around her ankle. "Oh, sorry," she said, aware she sounded anything but. "Did I strike a nerve?"

Annie laughed before he could answer, determined to pull her foot out of his grip. Her heel caught under his ribs and he expelled a surprised breath of air, but before she could wrench her ankle free he'd recovered and somehow made a successful grab for her other foot.

"Auggie!" she cried, laughing even harder than before. She sat up properly against the couch—though what she planned to do to him, she wasn't sure, maybe tackle him?—but she couldn't do anything beyond that because he quickly yanked her ankles and dragged her about half a foot over to his side of the couch. She let out a yell and flailed, somehow managing to catch his arm.

"That's what happens when you're mean, Walker," he announced over her shout. "Retribution." He still hadn't let go of her ankles, even though she was practically in his lap.

Before he could pull her any farther over to him, she pushed up and lunged at him. "Retribution, my ass," she grumbled, grabbing his wrists so she could hopefully pull her ankles free.

He shoved his weight against her—which really wasn't fair, because he was significantly heavier than her—but she managed not to let go of his wrists, shoving him back with her shoulder even though he didn't so much as budge. "You're just pissed because I'm totally right," she continued through gritted teeth, her struggling affording her a knee to his chest.

"You're only sort of right," he grunted, and somehow with a shift and a shove knocked her off balance and deposited more of her into his lap.

She grinned but it was partially marred by her baring her teeth as they grappled for domination. "I'm completely—" she pushed his arm out of the way and managed to slide one of her knees between his "—100-percent—" he growled and had one of her arms behind her back before she could blink "—without a doubt—" her foot caught behind his leg and haphazardly kicked "—right."

Annie exhaled all the breath out of her lungs, unaware how she had ended up on her back with Auggie grinning happily over her. "Oh, you suck," she managed pathetically, panting as she tried to catch her breath.

Mercifully, Auggie was just as out of breath as she was, even as he hovered too close to her line of vision. He didn't say anything at first but continued grinning, like he was more than happy enough to settle down right where he was.

She shifted her leg—she was tangled up pretty effectively in Auggie's—so she almost missed the way his expression changed into something more serious. Annie's hand was still fisted in his button-down, but he had her other wrist pinned by her head. They were at somewhat of a stalemate, but that didn't seem to matter much when he was staring down at her like that.

Annie found she couldn't think of anything—anything other than memories of the two of them, of that time she kissed his cheek and he told her he liked her and that stupid phone call before he didn't murder the man who blinded him and, of course, her holding his hand before he told her he was leaving for Africa—and suddenly she really had to wonder what the hell they were doing here, on his couch.

"Are you still frustrated?" he asked quietly, and she could feel her heart rate ramp up accordingly. She understood what he was asking, but damned if she could figure out _why_—wasn't he still hung up on the Africa girl? Or had they broken up?

But, dangerously enough, she couldn't actually care enough to find out. Before she could lose her nerve, she leaned her head up and closed the gap. If he reacted badly, she could always lie and blame it on the beer. It was a poor excuse, but she was fairly confident he would let her get away with it.

She wasn't sure how or when they had taken a turn, but every nerve ending in her body told her they had been leading steadily up to this for the last two years. He didn't hesitate to kiss her back, releasing her wrist and arm to eagerly bury his hands in her hair, tilting her head to the exact angle he needed.

With her hands free, she clamored for more contact, her short nails biting into his back. Her tongue darted out, tasting the salty sweet skin of his bottom lip, and when his moan rumbled through her torso she shivered along with him.

His lips parted and she willingly took the opportunity, deepening the kiss without a thought. They were moving so quickly, an urgency settling between them that could not, would not be ignored. He tasted like beer—she probably did too—and something else, something that reminded her of campfires and being home.

The lack of oxygen was really getting to her clearly, but when Auggie pulled away and she inhaled deeply it didn't seem to do too much for her addled brain. "Annie, before we—" he panted, gently resting his forehead against hers. "I'm not—I can't—"

"It's fine," she assured him quickly, understanding exactly what he meant. "This doesn't have to mean anything." Another day, she might have had a different response, but right then she was so lost in her own adrenaline and lust that the thought of stopping to talk about relationship statuses actually made her want to cry. "Just no strings or whatever."

Auggie looked like he didn't quite believe her at first—or didn't want to—as he asked, "Are you sure?"

Annie didn't bother responding. Instead, she kissed him harder than before and tugged his shirt out of his pants.

He didn't seem to mind her alternative form of communication, but even still he didn't let it go much farther before pulling back. She groaned at the movement, but he just shook his head. "C'mon, bed. It's that or I lose my cool and screw you on the coffee table, which trust me when I say is not as fun as it sounds."

At the surprisingly lurid imagery, her lips parted, inhaling shakily as all her thoughts went straight in the gutter. Annie followed him up, barely trusting her knees to hold her. She didn't wait for either of them to get their bearings, pushing up on her toes and kissing him once more.

Auggie grinned against her mouth, smoothly turning it into a full blown kiss with a tilt and a lot of impressive dexterity. His hands came to her hips, bringing her flush against his body once more and making her heart go double-time in her chest. He felt so much more solid against her body, a wall of muscle and skin and bones and _heat_.

He had his hands under her shirt, something she hadn't noticed until his skin brushed against hers. She jumped at the unexpected contact, but her back arched, a delicious involuntary action completely out of her control. She buried her fingers in his hair, her teeth clacking against his as her desire to get as close as possible to him tumbled out of her control.

Her shirt was bunched around her waist, and she didn't know why he was dragging his feet so she took the choice out of his hands and quickly ripped the shirt over her head. Tossing it somewhere in the direction of the couch, she continued backing him up towards his bedroom.

At her earnestness, Auggie wrenched his mouth away from hers and groaned, "Jesus, Annie." Her fingers were mapping every square inch of her back, lighting every one of her nerves on fire. In retaliation, she dipped her head under his chin, pressing an openmouthed kiss to his neck as she quickly unbuttoned his shirt with trembling fingers.

"Yes, Auggie?" she asked in response to his earlier plea, her breath hot as she tugged his earlobe between her lips. "Is there something you want?"

She smoothed his open button-down past his shoulders, but once she hit his elbows she was temporarily stymied. "Oh, there's something I want, alright," Auggie grumbled, not budging his arms because he was too busy with the clasp of her bra.

Annie hadn't noticed how quickly they had moved across his apartment until the backs of his knees hit the bed and they nearly tumbled over. She laughed at their combined distinct lack of grace, but that laugh hitched when he pulled her bright blue bra down her arms. She discarded the fabric happily, and Auggie did the same with his shirt.

Before he could try anything else, she put her hands and his shoulder and pressed down. He went with the motion, sitting down heavily on the bed. His chest was heaving, he was panting so hard, and if she could focus on anything other than the man in front of her and pulsing between her legs she might've noticed that hers was doing the same. Still, she took a moment to slow down, transferring her hands from his shoulders back into his dark hair, tilting his head up to better lock eyes with him.

"So what do you want, Anderson?" Annie asked pointedly, stepping between his knees. Her lips were inches from his own, and she could see that if she kept this up for much longer Auggie was going to have a hard time controlling himself. The observation made her grin widen.

Auggie's hands went to her hips, dragging her closer until her shins hit the bed. He growled primitively, his fingers digging into the soft fabric of her linen pants. "I want you naked."

Her breath stuttered in his chest—_had sexier words ever been spoken?_—but she managed a nod. "That can be arranged."

He didn't wait for her to find the clever little side zipper on her own, but instead smoothly divested her of her pants and panties in one go. She laughed shakily, stepping aside and watching as he did the same with his own pants and boxers.

Silence settled between them, and a rare moment of peace and almost reflection passed. She supposed this was the point of no return. As if the same thought had occurred to them simultaneously, he reached for her waist and she grabbed his shoulders, their mouths meeting in the middle.

Auggie spun them around, laying her out on the bed and crawling over her so easily she barely noticed her head hitting the back of the pillow. She let out a needy noise in the back of her throat when her body cradled his, her nails digging into his scalp a little harder than necessary. He nipped her lip in punishment, his hands tracing the lines of her body until she shivered.

In the midst of their heavy kissing, he had leaned over and fished a condom out of his nightstand, never once breaking contact with her. Annie looped her leg around the back of his, pulling a groan from him and situating his body one inch closer to where she needed him.

He needed to pull away to put on the condom, and she took the opportunity to drop her head against the pillows and exhale deeply. When Auggie returned to her line of vision, he looked hesitant. "Are you sure?"

Annie's brown eyes widened desperately, and she brought his face back to hers. "_Please_," she whispered heartbreakingly, the closest she'd ever come to begging. He might have been a stronger person than her, but there was no way she could walk away after all this. And they had barely even begun.

He nodded minutely. She made room for him, but he still kept one hand firmly on her hip, opening up her body for him just a little bit more. One sharp movement and she gasped, her eyes going even wider than before as Auggie cursed in her ear.

It felt like their bodies had been meant to do this, like they'd been doing this for years. She tilted her hips, striving for that perfect spot, and he buried his face in her neck, groaning, "_Dammit_, Annie."

She ignored his curses and continued to move against him, even when his hands went to her hips once more. She was going to have bruises in the shape of fingerprints, she was sure of it, but it was completely worth it if that coiling heat in the pit of her stomach was any indication.

Little, breathy whimpers were escaping her, rising in pitch and frequency. Abruptly, Auggie's hands left her hips, finding and grabbing her arms. At some point, she had fisted her hands in his comforter, but she hadn't noticed until he wrenched her fingers out of the fabric, her muscles smarting from the tension.

Auggie's fingers laced through hers, pulling them up by her head. She resumed her grip on his hands, twisting her hips in an endless hope that something would give. His hipbones dug into hers—more bruises, no doubt, completely worth it—and she cried out his name.

He still hadn't removed his face from her neck, and somehow without even having any experience she know he was close. But she hadn't expected him to tilt his mouth towards her ear and demand, "C'mon, Annie. Talk to me."

Talk to him? He wanted her to _talk?_ She could barely remember her own name, but he wanted her to form full syllables and sentences. And then he thrust against her, tearing another cry from her throat as it felt like her muscles were having mini-seizures.

"Aug—Auggie," she said raggedly. Her voice sounded foreign to her ears, raw and frantic. He wanted her to talk to him, so that meant she needed to use real words. "Just—_please_. More."

She couldn't be sure, but she thought he smiled before he licked the sweat off the skin of her neck. He kissed her, and she responded instantly, biting his lip. She couldn't understand why, but he released her hands, gathering both wrists above her head. His other slid downward, brushing past her breast, ghosting over her side, and finally slipping between them. He pressed down unforgivingly on that bundle of nerves as he kissed her with bruising force.

This time, Annie's whole body shook from head to toe, vibrating with the precision of a tuning fork. Auggie was barely a half-second behind her, and the feeling on him inside her just set off more mini aftershocks.

He had collapsed against her, but she could barely feel any of his added weight. Weakly, she brushed his damp hair out of his face, tucking the curls behind his ears. "God_damn_, Annie," he mumbled, his words muffled by his forehead against her collarbone.

She laughed breathlessly. "Right back 'atcha," she muttered, her words catching as he pulled out and away from her. He tied off and tossed the condom, and she watched silently, her body feeling exactly like Jell-O at the moment.

Auggie didn't offer to let her stay the night, but she didn't ask. Instead, he returned back to the bed, gently nudged her a few inches to the left, and tugged the covers down. It was an unspoken invitation, and their actions and her shattering orgasm left no room for second thoughts. She slid into bed with him, letting him drape a strong arm around her waist, and drifted into dreamless sleep for the first time in months.

$4$

This was long, but I wanted a good set-up. Or at least a decent set-up. Really, anything that you guys would find acceptable.

I hope you found the M-rating to your liking… if you didn't, we might have a problem because this will not be the last of its kid for this fic. ;)

Regardless, I hope you all are having great holidays! I'm having a lovely break at the moment, and if you have some free time I _highly_ recommend checking out **Spyridon**'s livejournal account. Earlier in the fall, she put together this fantastic Secret Santa project (creatively titled _Operation Alpha Maiden_). I participated, along with a handful of other people, many of whom you may recognize (cough**ArtemisRayne**cough**AsphaltAngel**cough).

But right now, the Santa fics are being released. There's a handful up at the moment, and I invite all of you to read through them and maybe if you're feeling up to the holidays leave a review or two. After January 18th, **Spyridon** will reveal all the writers, at which point I'll finally upload my fic on here. :D

Here's the link, just remove the spaces to check it out: operation-cafe . livejournal . com

Hope you guys all have amazing holidays, whatever they may be! (And hopefully I'll have this next chapter up before New Year's!)


	2. I'm All But a Victim in My Prison Head

I'm happy to hear that you guys are loving this so much.

There is definitely still smut left ahead, but I had to put _some_ plot in here. I know this will be AU from however they decide to take the third season, but I couldn't help but put my own spin on Jai's turn of events.

At least, that's my excuse for writing this chapter practically as long as human possible.

But remember, while last chapter might have been sexy, there's no such thing as strings-free sex, particularly where friends are involved. Messiness is almost a requirement. ;)

$4$

_So mornin' come and I'm nervously clad  
>In these sheets not my own and these<br>Hands where they don't belong  
>And I'm all but a victim in my prison-head<br>I should run for my gun but I'm lyin' instead  
>In your hands<em>

- "More Than Melody," by Anna Nalick

* * *

><p>When Annie finally woke up, Auggie was already in the shower. She was only disoriented for a few brief seconds, confused by the foreign scent imbedded in the sheets and the way the light hit from the right side of the room. But then she finally realized that the bed was not hers, not to mention finally took note of her stark nudity.<p>

Heaving a sigh, she buried her face in his pillow, pulling the comforter better over her shoulders. She recognized the scent now. Auggie, sweat, and sex. Overall not a bad smell, certainly better when her olfactory sense kicked in and linked it to the memories of last night.

Annie smiled lazily and stretched at those particular memories. Just the thought made her tingle appreciatively. It had been a long time since she had felt this refreshed after sex. She wanted to sleep for another hour or two and bask in that satisfaction, but they had made the poor decision of sleeping together on a Monday night, which meant today was Tuesday, and she had work.

Her clothes were scattered across Auggie's apartment, and while the idea of changing back into yesterday's clothes was completely unappealing, she needed to get down to her car and it wouldn't exactly be PC to go out there in her birthday suit.

Inhaling one last time, she pushed herself out of Auggie's bed. Her muscles were sore for all the right reasons, and she grinned widely as she ran her fingers through her hair. She probably looked like a hot mess, but if her hair was mostly settled and she ran right back and forth probably no one would notice her raccoon eyes or the possible hickey on her collarbone.

She tossed on her clothes haphazardly and slid into her shoes. It took her three and a half minutes to get to her car and back, a personal best. By the time she got back, though, she could hear that the water had stopped running. She closed the door behind her and quickly set about changing into the spare set of clothes she had grabbed from her car.

Just as Annie had put the finishing touches on her pencil skirt, Auggie strolled out halfway through tugging on a black sweater vest. "Coffee?" he asked as she tugged on one stiletto, and then the other.

"Sure," she answered, crossing the living room and meeting him in the kitchen. He had already poured them each a cup, and she could see hers on the island. She took the mug gratefully, muttering a quiet thanks. He had added the exact amount of sugar and cream she preferred, but as she smiled at his innate knowledge she finally noticed it.

"You poured me a cup of coffee?" she asked softly, keeping the mug close to her face so the steam would warm her. "How'd you know I was coming back?"

Auggie's smile was crooked as he picked up his mug and leaned against the counter. "I think at this point it's pretty difficult for you to do something I don't expect," he replied carefully, but she saw the glint in his eyes that made her pulse beat a little faster.

She smiled back, ignoring the buzzing going on in her veins. "You do have a point," she replied, a teasing lilt coming into her voice. "But I like to think I have a pretty good handle on you."

The flirting between them had ramped up, and if it wasn't for work looming over their heads she would gladly spend more time reminiscing over the previous night's events. Any other guy, she would've expected there would be more awkward pauses, tension and regret for their hasty actions. Instead, their banter was no different than it had been four months ago, just maybe a little more _honest_ than before.

"You know we should probably talk it," he said, still grinning. He took a sip from his coffee—he drank it black, but she knew he usually preferred it with a few spoonfuls of sugar if no one was paying attention—and his eyes settled on her, or at least as close as possible.

"Probably," she admitted truthfully, one shoulder going up in a kind of _laissez-faire_ way of saying, _What can you do?_ "I don't really want to, but it's a good plan before we have to leave."

They had about a fifteen minute window before they absolutely had to head to Langley, with an over-under of about five minutes, which ultimately meant no matter what this conversation would have to be a quickie.

There was an amusing irony in there somewhere, but she didn't exactly have the time to figure it out.

"We should lay out ground rules," Auggie began, cutting right to the chase.

As if sensing her question, he nodded and continued. "Ground rules," he repeated, setting down his coffee mug. "In case this happens again."

Annie's eyebrow arched of its own volition, the little word ringing through her head. _Again_. "I'm not trying to get ahead of myself, but generally if casual sex between friends goes well the first time, it's kind of inevitable that it's going to happen again," Auggie paused, and she couldn't tell if he was grim or smug as he added, "And it went better than well."

That much was definitely true. She might have been sore and there may have been a few fingerprint-shaped bruises on her hips, but sleeping with Auggie was fucking fantastic and well worth any repercussions. She completely understood his logic that if it _was_ to ever happen again—she didn't let herself fantasize, even if she wanted to desperately—they needed to have some kind of rule system to fall back on.

"Okay," she answered, her mug joining his on the counter. She could feel a little burble of nervousness at having this frank conversation, but then she stared at Auggie. No one better to talk to about it. "You have any particular ideas? Other than this would obviously be no strings attached sex."

He nodded. "Which means no getting jealous if there's flirting, or someone moves on."

"Works for me," Annie said. "Actually, we should just nix the emotions all together. Sex is sex, if feelings get involved it'll screw everything up."

"Agreed," Auggie replied. He cocked his head, and she could practically see the cogs spinning in his brain. "From here on out, there shouldn't be any more sleepovers."

"It'll make things messier," she finished the thought for him, drumming her fingers on the table. When it finally occurred to her, her whole body sprang upright. "Oh! And most important—"

"Nobody can find out," he said, completing her sentence. She smiled at the way their minds were always in sync, and his own grew as if he could still read her expression and respond accordingly. "Think that's enough?"

"Should be," she told him, her eyes following the curls that rested against his forehead. Even the most rational parts of her brain had to admit the likelihood of her _not_ hooking up with him ever again was really, really slim. "If we think of anything else, we can always add onto it."

"Good," Auggie said, grinning widely. "You think you're ready for work?"

"Not a chance."

* * *

><p>They drove into work together, and Auggie related some story about his two brothers and a dissected frog that has her practically in tears by the time she pulled her car into the parking lot. She loved when he talked about his family, because it happened so rarely. She only knew bits and pieces, but combined it sounded like they would be a great, crazy-as-hell group to be around.<p>

She was a little afraid something they would say or do would immediately give away the fact that they had slept together to their uber-observant CIA coworkers, but Annie found she had nothing to worry about. Oh, Bea grinned at Auggie sunnily when they walked through the doors and there were a few male agents she didn't know well leering at her, but no one seemed to be behaving any different than past days.

They separated, Annie heading to her little cubicle in the bullpen and Auggie to his office in Tech Ops. Even if this was the least frustrated she had been in months, there was still tons and tons of paperwork that needed to be sorted and catalogued and completed.

Yes, her life of being a paper bitch was very much still in session, even with Auggie's arrival.

She may have been chagrined about the whole affair, but at this point she had a system going so it wasn't difficult to immerse herself once more. It was tedious and not always as easy as it sounded, but it afforded her the opportunity to completely focus on something for hours on end, leaving all her thoughts and second-guesses behind.

In fact, she was so involved in her work that she didn't notice the unfortunately familiar face step through the DPD doors. It was only the rather noticeable dip in the usual droning din that made Annie's ears perk up. The CIA didn't going silent over nothing.

Locating Jai took less than a second. Everyone in the room was giving him an extremely wide berth, and the word on the grapevine had quite a good reason for it.

Barber was apparently courting a secretary on the third floor, and as anyone who's ever known a secretary, they know _everything_ and tell each other _everything_. Said secretary was good friends with Arthur Campbell's secretary, who had made the mistake of letting slip a something she had heard Arthur mention.

After Jai had ratted out his father as the leak—Annie was still having a hard time swallowing that one, _Liza Hearn had shacked up with Henry Wilcox_—he had headed straight for Arthur's office to have a word. And that word included a threat.

Jai was after Joan's job.

Annie imagined he was probably expecting that particular plan to remain more under wraps. Arthur probably expected the same, though admittedly for different reasons. But while the CIA may have kept secrets from the general public, it was damn near impossible to keep people from finding out about what went on inside.

Shit. She and Auggie were going to need to be really careful.

Regardless, Jai was screwed. Joan knew, Arthur's secretary knew, and the whole of the DPD knew. Even if Jai still had his father's pull to go on, Annie knew there wasn't a single damn person in her office that was going to let him anywhere near Joan's job. And that wasn't even including Joan herself.

Jai Wilcox had just burned his last bridge.

With a shake of her head, Annie returned back to her work. Unfortunately, she didn't miss Jai's attempt to catch her eye. He'd been trying this regularly for the last two weeks, and she could not express how badly she wanted him to knock it the hell off.

She wasn't sure if it was his growing cockiness in his assumption that he could just take Joan's position from under her feet, or maybe Auggie's disappearance, but Jai had been dogged lately trying to get Annie's attention. There were a ton of gorgeous women in the CIA he could try and bed, but he was _determined_ to pick Annie.

God only knew why.

Finishing up one more line of translation, she glanced at the clock. Two measly hours had passed and—_oh shit it was past eleven o'clock._

_Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck—_

* * *

><p>At exactly 11:18, Annie sprinted into the office, nearly crashing into the clean glass door as she attempted to wrench it open as fast as humanly possible. She slid through opening, leaving behind a rather wide smudge as the door slowly shut behind her.<p>

She was panting heavily, and an embarrassing sweat was starting to break out across her brow—dear God, what was being chained to a desk doing to her?—and she had a desperate urge to pull her hair back and start fanning herself as she stared at Olivia McHugh with wide eyes. "I—" she heaved more air into her lungs. "—am so—"

"Annie!" Olivia cried, jumping up from her seat behind her desk. "You don't—oh my God, sit down!"

Annie did so, gratefully, slumping in the small but comfortable chair across from Olivia's desk. "Sorry," she said, running her fingers through her hair. She unbuttoned her jacket and quickly shrugged out of it, which helped her internal temperature. "I can't believe I forgot our appointment."

Olivia looked stunned, wide green eyes watching Annie closely. "Did you… run here all the way from—"

"The DPD," Annie finished with a nod. "Five floors. I figured the elevators would take too long."

Jaw dropping, Olivia stared even harder than before. "Five floor—I can barely do the Stairmaster for five minutes, but you ran up five floors of stairs to get here on time?"

Annie laughed, still somewhat breathless from her sprint, but nodded her head. "I can't believe I almost forgot our appointment," she repeated, shaking her head. "I've been going to you for the last two months, but I don't forget until now."

"Well, it's really not that big of a deal," Olivia assured her with a small, tinkling laugh as she retrieved a manila folder under a pile of more manila folders. "Honestly, I'm still stuck on you running up five flights of stairs. I guess that's what happens when I choose the job that has me behind a desk for the rest of my life."

She tittered to herself once more, throwing in a cute little wink for good measure. Annie laughed with her, but inwardly her eyebrows were raised. Part of her psych evals included mandatory appointments with one of the CIA's many psychiatrists, and Annie happened to be assigned to Olivia. She wondered if Joan had intended it that way.

"So, was there any reason why you happened to forget today's appointment?" Olivia asked, getting down to business. There was no judgment in her tone—there never was—just plain, honest curiosity.

"Umm, I don't know," Annie stammered, ruffling her hair once more. Olivia's walls were almost completely bereft of decorations, knickknacks, or anything else that might signify that this office belonged to her. All that was there were two diplomas on the wall and a little figurine of Batgirl camped out by her laptop.

"Really?" Olivia prompted, perplexed. "Nothing new has happened in your life in the past week?"

Annie's mind flashed to her crying out Auggie's name as he pushed into her, but she banished the thought into the dark recesses of her mind as quickly as it came. Now was not the time for her to be thinking dirty thoughts.

Raising one shoulder in a shrug, Annie ignored the heavy blush that had spread across her cheeks in the last fifteen seconds. "Not really," she said, hoping to appear as casual as possible. "Well, Aug—a coworker of mine just got back yesterday. He's, uhh, been on vacation the last two months."

Olivia's neatly waxed eyebrows arched. "Oh? And is that a good thing?" she asked, testing the waters.

"Yes," Annie answered definitively, without even thinking about events of the night before. Olivia had told her numerous times this was a safe place, apparently devoid of the ears she knew pressed against every other wall in the CIA. Still, she felt hesitant to put her relationship with Auggie to words. "We haven't spoken since then. We're… good friends."

Olivia's head tilted, and Annie could see the wheels turned as she processed her carefully chosen words. "This friend," she said, marking something down on her notepad. "Did he leave before or after your altercation in Stockholm?"

Annie resisted the sudden desire to wince. "After," she said. "Right after."

Olivia paused, digested this information, and then asked, "Did you tell him?"

"He knew," she answered, too quickly. Her eyes dropped to the hem of her skirt, smoothing out the invisible wrinkles in the houndstooth pattern. Somehow, in the past two months, Auggie was never once brought up in conversation. It was an odd fact, but Annie had so much else going on in her life that it was almost easy to avoid the topic with Olivia.

"And that hurt," Olivia said, filling in the spaces. She took another note, brushing some auburn strands out of her face.

"He didn't do it on purpose." Annie didn't know if she was defending Auggie for his sake or her own. "He had… business that needed attending to. He didn't time his leaving with my mission."

"Which is very rational of you," she replied, and it sounded almost like praise. But there was a bit of a smile in her eyes as she added, "And while being rational is important in a situation like this, there's no harm in admitting to me what you really feel. It's cathartic, you know."

Once more, they had reached the same impasse she imagined every psychiatrist hit in the CIA. Somehow, Annie imagined it was just a little bit harder for Dr. Olivia McHugh, who easily had to be the youngest doctor in the entire department. Even with two degrees from Yale, her age was a tough thing to swallow.

Not that you could tell at first glance. In one of those rare doctor-patient bonding moments, Olivia had once confided that when she was fifteen a Ruby Tuesday's waiter had once served her a glass of wine. In front of her parents. Olivia would always look older, but once someone took a glance at her ID, the cat was out of the bag.

Annie felt a certain amount of camaraderie for the girl for that reason, and it was for that reason she found herself replying with complete honesty. "I felt betrayed," she admitted, looking up from her skirt and meeting Olivia's eyes. "He's my—well, we're really close. We work together a lot, and he actually kinda took me under his wing when I first started working here. I go to him a lot for—everything. So when I killed a man who was intending on murdering me and my sister, and his only response was to hand me the keys to his Corvette and tell me that's what the company shrinks were for, well—and I could handle him leaving for _Africa_, I really could. But I had no notice, just a, 'Hey, I'm leaving.' And that's not even including that little detail that he never so much as mentioned the woman he was willing to travel around the world to visit."

Letting out a shaky exhale, Annie blinked. She hadn't meant to unload _all_ of that, but it felt good to throw it all out there in one go. Smiling a little guiltily, she finished, "Well. That's my story."

Olivia's eyebrows were up, even higher than when she'd realized Annie had sprinted up five flights of stairs. "That is quite the story," she said. At some point, she had set her pen down on her desk, enraptured by Annie's rant. "And really, probably one of the most remarkable ones to be told in this building. It's not easy getting the truth out of the people that work here."

Annie pursed her lips, trying to hold back a smile. "Really. I had no idea."

* * *

><p>"Walker."<p>

Annie froze in her tracks. She hadn't even had the chance to sit down before Joan crossed her office and leaned out the door. Her boss looked no different than any other day—sharp green shift dress, hair in a ponytail—but it was her determined stare that made her stop.

"My office. Now."

It was preposterous, because she had been working in the DPD for over two years, but somehow when Joan used that tone she always had to fight the urge to slink over, like she was fourteen again and getting called to the principal's office for skipping class.

By the time she walked through the door and shut it behind her, Joan had already returned to her desk and looked busy with some kind of official looking paperwork. When Annie was feeling ridiculous she sometimes wondered if Joan was really doing paperwork or just pretending to look busy.

"I need you to sign this," she said without looking up, and pushed a neatly paper clipped stack of papers across her desk. Annie walked forward without pausing, her curiosity getting the best of her. Since she'd come back from Stockholm, Joan had only called her into her office once. To inform her she was to be on desk duty until every single psych evaluation was signed and dotted. What she had Annie to sign next, she wasn't sure.

"Apparently, Dr. McHugh likes you," Joan informed her flatly as Annie picked up the documents and examined them carefully. When she finally focused and read them, her mouth fell open. "At least enough to finally approve you for duty."

There was a tiny little bubble that started somewhere near her navel and rose steadily, getting bigger and bigger as it did. She had the ridiculous, unfathomable urge to squeal and dance around like a little kid, but somehow managed to tamp it down long enough to gently set them back on the desk, borrow Joan's pen, and sign and initial exactly where was specified.

Joan glanced up, her pale eyes finally locking with Annie's. "Congratulations," she said, a small, proud smile playing across her lips. "But don't think this means you're off the hook with her appointments. I still expect you to attend every one of them until Dr. McHugh thinks you're perfect."

Annie nodded once. "Understood," she replied, then slid the papers back to Joan, who took them gratefully. She paused—counted back from ten, really longer than anyone could expect of her—and then asked. "When can I get my next assignment?"

Even Joan wasn't good enough to hide her expression at that. She let out a loud laugh, gone as soon as it started, and then pressed her fingers to the spot between her eyebrows. "Get out of my office, Walker," she instructed, her mouth twitching at her attempt to rein in her smile.

"Yes, boss," she said, raising the first two fingers to her brow in a little mini-salute. She spun on her heel and booked it out of there, just in the off-chance Joan decided to change her mind and rip up the papers. Not that that would happen, but it didn't hurt to be careful, just the same.

She managed to make it all the way to her desk without doing anything too crazy, even if just the sight of those translations just made her what to throw her hands up in the air and shout, "Who gives a fuck!"

Obviously, that wouldn't go over well in the office.

Really, she'd been so busy having an internal party while simultaneously keeping her elation under wraps that she'd completely forgot that Auggie was back and she finally had someone she could talk to again.

"Be honest. What did you break this time?" So for the second time in the same number of days, Auggie's shocked her out of her me-centered thoughts.

"No broken toys, scout's honor," Annie quipped. She was bouncing in her seat, but hopefully it was subtle enough that no one noticed. Okay, that not many people noticed.

"I thought that was my line," Auggie replied, leaning his hip against the edge of her desk, the bright green light of his cane bouncing against her monitor's screen.

"Too bad," she said, leaning forward in her seat and whispering conspiratorially with him. "Because I just got reinstated for active duty, so as far as I'm concerned everybody in this building can suck it."

Auggie's eyebrows hiked. At first she thought it was because of her off-the-cuff remark, but then she realized it was something else entirely. "You've been chained to desk duty the entire time I was gone?" he asked quietly, just in case anybody might try to be eavesdropping—not that this was news.

"Yeah," Annie said, surprised. "I couldn't go back until the psych said I was good to go. And until she said that, I couldn't carry a weapon, and I couldn't go on assignment until I could carry a weapon."

This was the first awkward silence they'd experienced since they had hooked up, and Annie wasn't entirely sure what had brought it on. What had Auggie been expecting she was doing while he was gone? Still running all around the world, without access to a gun? She had just been approved to carry, she wasn't going to give that one up so soon.

Unless he had seriously deluded himself in Africa into thinking that she was perfect back in the DPD and Joan had just handed her back her gun and sent her off to work, no questions asked. As if she would even be remotely comfortable going back to work right after killing a man _and_ without Auggie in her ear.

But there was no way he could think that. It was too callous and unthinking and completely out of character for Auggie. So why had that bubble of excitement in her chest already burst?

"I'm sorry, Annie," he said sincerely, and she knew without a doubt that her instincts were right. "I didn't realize—I didn't think."

"It's not your fault," she assured him rather graciously. "You had no reason to think—"

Auggie met her eyes, and the accuracy and intensity in his gaze made the words die in her throat. "Yeah, I did," he said, almost sounding angry. "I had every damn reason to think—to know—that this wasn't going to be easy for you. But I was too damn wrapped up in myself to think about anyone else more important."

His voice had risen steadily with each word, and by the end a few people were turning around in their desks, glancing over at Annie and Auggie. Sensing their stares, she pressed her hand into his, squeezing to keep him distracted from his own growing rage. "Hey," she said, almost harshly. Checking her voice, she lowered her register even further and whispered in a more gentle tone, "Hey. Am I blaming you? No. I had my stuff, you had your stuff. I would hardly write it off as nothing, because you were actually going after someone you loved."

At those words, his expression morphed into something bitter, and his mouth twisted. Before he could he could argue with her, she continued. "Really, that's probably more important than my shit. Certainly more noble."

Annie desperately wanted to know what went down in Africa. She did. And she felt that way even before they slept together, since the second she saw him back in his office. But even if she wanted to know what had happened, she wasn't going to let him tell her in the middle of the bullpen, surrounded by all their coworkers.

Her hand stayed over his, her thumb brushing over the back of his until his carefully composed mask slid back over his face. "Sorry about that," he said brusquely, his back straightening ever so slightly. "Almost lost my cool for a second there."

Annie smiled crookedly. "Noticed that."

Simultaneously, they broke their little embrace, and it was back to business. "Well, it's good that you're back, because now we have something to celebrate at Allen's," he replied, smoothly changing the subject. "And it's better, because now I have a good reason to avoid Jai Wilcox."

"What does Jai want with you?" she asked, immediately distracted with something juicier than their emo-fest.

"Apparently, a truce," Auggie said, his expression exaggerated to show exactly what he thought of Jai Wilcox and his never ending underhanded tactics. "Be buddies again while he schemes for Joan's job. Like we were ever _buddies_ to begin with."

Annie snickered at his disdain. It hadn't taken him long to catch up on the water cooler gossip, not that she was surprised. She would bet her next paycheck that that had been the first thing Stu and Barber told him after, "Hello."

"He suggested we go out to Allen's, I said yes, if only to prolong the opportunity for him to rip off my head and eat it."

Now she laughed, but wrinkled her nose. "That's something praying mantises do," she pointed out.

"Yeah, I know," Auggie asked, like he was baffled that she was questioning his infallible knowledge.

"It's something _female_ praying mantises do," she added, prompting him. "After they… y'know. With the boy praying mantis."

The look on Auggie's face was priceless. "Point taken," he said, and she was delighted by the way his face was rapidly turning to the color of a cherry. "Metaphor redacted."

"Oh, it's too late for that one," she said with a laugh. "How the hell did you forget _that_ from Biology class?"

"I never took Biology," he replied, and it took her a moment to figure out why he was grinning like that. "I took Anatomy."

"Oh, _Jesus_, you're lame."

* * *

><p>It didn't take long to realize that going to Allen's was a poor decision.<p>

To start, the place was _packed_—it was a Tuesday night, which usually didn't mean a crowd, but apparently they were running some sort of college special—so she nearly had to wrestle a girl for a decent seat. Huge crowds weren't exactly what she was hoping for in a celebration locale, much less one jam packed with horny frat boys.

Even better, they were sharing their table with Jai, Stu, and Barber. The last two she didn't mind so much because she had long since gotten used to swapping _Star Wars_ and Batman jokes. But Jai she could definitely do without, particularly when she noticed his gaze lingering on her longer than necessary.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. When it came time to volunteer for the next person to pick up their pitchers, she gladly hopped up, skirted the table, and got the hell out of dodge. All the geek bonding in the world was not going to make Jai's presence any more tolerable.

Of course, _getting_ to the bar was a feat in and of itself. At least three guys winked at her, and she needed to actual elbow her way to get through the obnoxious throngs of twenty-year-olds. God, she was glad college was over. She'd be even gladder once college for _them_ was over, because then she could take her damn bar back.

"Well, that didn't take long."

Annie's muscles tensed as she threw down enough money to cover the booze. She wrapped her hands around the two pitchers, barely looking at Jai as she replied, "What didn't take long?"

He didn't respond, and it took her a moment to realize that was because he was staring somewhere else. She followed his line of vision, and when she did spot them her expression didn't give anything away.

"He hasn't been back 48 hours and he's already got some college coed throwing herself at his feet," Jai commented, and Annie had to fight a brief fantasy that involved coldcocking him with one of the pitchers.

She shrugged, meeting Jai's black eyes for the first time all night. "He's a big boy, Jai," she said. "He can make his own decisions. Leave him alone."

It was true that the girl—whoever she was—was throwing herself at Auggie, but in a rare moment of clarity, Annie wasn't sure she had any right to judge. Given the way she had willingly tumbled into bed with him, who was to blame the little cheerleader for wanting to do the same?

"I think most people were expecting you two to get together," he replied helpfully, not even bothering to offer to carry one of the pitchers. "Probably going to be a little disappointing to the grapevine once they hear he's back to his old ways."

Annie's brow furrowed, her anger rising in direct correlation to the grin on his face. "Who cares?" she asked dismissively, shouldering her way through the crowd and sending a withering glare to some tool that was spending way too much time staring at her ass. "It doesn't matter who he sleeps with, because he can do his job better than anyone else in the office."

"You used to care," Jai called from behind her, and once more she had to fight the want to stamp a black eye on that pretty face. "What changed?"

Muttering a low curse, she turned on him. "You know, not that it matters, but since when do _you_ have any room to comment on who Auggie beds?" she asked, nearly sloshing the beer on Jai's expensive, if girly, teal shirt. "I've heard the rumors about you. Near as I can tell, you're no better or worse. So how about you back the hell off Auggie's love life?"

She could see that, under his perfect caramel coloring, his face colored at her accusation. She kept her face mostly neutral, but she was happy to see he was actually affected by something anymore. The only expression she'd seen from him in the last month was either conniving or smug.

"He's not as saintly as you and Joan and the rest of the DPD would make him out to be," he said with a sneer, his jaw jutting out in Auggie's direction. "And believe me when I say, putting someone _else_ on a pedestal is not going to help you go anywhere in the CIA."

He said it quietly enough that it would be almost impossible for the college aged hordes to hear anything, but she still sent him a dirty look for being stupid enough to try it anyway. She did not need Joan reading her the riot act so soon after getting reapproved for duty.

Stepping closer and almost slamming into a tiny little redhead in a tinier cut-off wife beater, she faced off against Jai with barely contained fire in her eyes. "Fine, Wilcox. I'll bite. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Annie had finally shocked Jai. It felt good. She didn't let him get the chance to recover. "Maybe some of this isn't your fault, because your dad was an underhanded, conniving bastard, and maybe he really fucked you up as a result. But it can't only be on him. Because you had a shot, a really good opportunity to save yourself from the same fate as your father, and you just want to fuck it all up. Crawl your way up the ladder and burn the like last three bridges you have left."

She shook her head, her anger making way to disgust mixed with actual pity. "Auggie's not perfect. I know that. I'm not, either. And he can sleep around, and flirt with the dumb little college coeds he wants. I'm fine with that, because at the end of the day, I know that I can trust him to not step on me or anyone else in the DPD to get where he wants to go."

Jai didn't have anything to say to her just then, so with another shake of her head, she looked at him with sad eyes. "Jai, I feel sorry for you. You could be so much better than this."

Finally, she turned away from him, her eyes set on their table. She only got a couple steps away when Jai's voice rang out over the sounds of the masses. "Then how come he hasn't told you anything about what he was doing in Africa then?"

Annie didn't stop for a second, even when all the worst parts of her were shouting to turn around and squeeze Jai for every and any drop of information that would pertain to Auggie, Africa, and That Girl. But she knew Auggie, and mostly knew Jai, and knew that there wasn't a single solitary chance in hell that Auggie would tell Jai a damned thing about what was going on in his life. Jai only brought it up in the hopes of getting under her skin in return.

The cheerleader was still there by the time Annie walked back to their table, practically in Auggie's lap. She took all this in without so much as blinking, but she felt the familiar sense of disapproval as the little thing did this with Stu and Barber still sitting right across from them.

"I come bringing beer," she announced proudly, holding up the pitchers cheerfully. "I think we might've lost Wilcox on the way back, though."

"We'll all have a good cry about him," Barber replied without missing a beat. "Now hand over a pitcher."

She did so happily, and when she looked over at the other end of the table she saw Auggie staring up in her direction with what appeared to be a glint of fear in his eyes. She repressed a smile as she added, "What about you, Anderson? Need a refill?"

"Yes, thank you," he said gratefully, pushing his glass towards her across the table, and she didn't miss the air of quiet desperation in his otherwise calm timbre. She also didn't miss the pout that had formed on the pretty cheerleader. "I'll trust you to know when I'm good."

Annie chuckled at his poor joke and poured him a beer, stopping a few inches from the top. "Here ya go, Augs," she mumbled, and then set the pitcher next to the one Stu had just set down and sat back down. One glance at the two of them, and she had to bite her lip at the identical looks of fear and discomfort.

"So how has your night been?" she asked, nodding towards Stu and Barber. Her eyebrows hiked but she managed to keep her eyes away from Auggie and Cheerleader Skipper.

Barber looked almost flabbergasted, but Stu filled in his words for them. "I have definitely had worse nights," he replied tactfully, picking up his pint and holding it up towards her in a mock-salute.

"I can't disagree with that," Annie said, throwing in a wink and picking up her own beer to knock against his.

"And let's not forget why we came here to celebrate," Auggie threw in, and she glanced over at him with a wide grin. "It's nice to know the bosses don't think Annie's as crazy as we know she is!"

They all laughed and raised their glasses, but she managed a half-hearted frown in his direction. "I'm not crazy," she argued, inhaling more of her beer than she probably she could have. "I'm just different."

"I tried that in high school," Barber said, pointing towards her excitedly. "Oddly enough, the football players _still_ pushed my head in a toilet."

Annie put her hand over her heart. "Aww, they gave you swirlies?" she asked.

"Annie, I was captain of my Mathlete team. Of _course_ they gave me swirlies."

She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle the giggles, but that didn't do anything to cover up the sound of Skipper asking, "What's a Mathlete?"

No one bothered answering her.

"It helped once I started taking muay Thai and jiu jitsu classes. They learned to leave me the hell alone real quick."

A louder chorus of laughter than before exploded across the table, not hampered in the slightest by the girl's glower. She busied herself with joking around with Barber and Stu. She was going to have a good night, even if Auggie wasn't involved.

She was still observant, and it didn't take a whole lot of concentration to see Skipper lean forward and whisper something in Auggie's ear. Barber made no attempts at subtlety whatsoever by openly gawking at the curvy little brunette attempt to balance herself on Auggie's lap. Stu frowned heavily and adjusted his tie, shifting uncomfortably as the sideshow unfolded.

For the record, Annie didn't know what Auggie said, and she made no attempts to eavesdrop and better hear his words. All she did know was that he responded quickly and quietly, and there was a split-second where Skipper yanked away from Auggie—and then shot Annie the dirtiest of dirty looks and took off.

"Whoa, what was that about?" Barber demanded, his baby blues ginormous. "Did you see that? It was like she wanted to rip out your _soul_."

Auggie made a face, but he didn't look too broken up that Skipper had hightailed it out of there. Annie busied herself with taking a nice long drink of her beer. "Oddly, Barber, I missed that," he replied dryly.

"I wasn't talking about _you_," Barber said, rolling his eyes for her and Stu's benefit. "I was talking about Annie. Becky or whatever her name was looked like she was going to go all Catwoman versus Lois Lane!"

"Catwoman versus Lois Lane?" Annie repeated, trying to conjure up images that just didn't fit. Had she heard Barber wrong or something?

"It's a super old comic book," Stu explained.

"Not one of my best," he said with a grimace. "But she was looking all catty, and Lois Lane was the closest I got to you." His sheepish smile was enough to make her laugh and shrug off the questions still bouncing around her head.

Auggie didn't look happy to hear this information, but somehow he managed to shrug it off. "Annie, do you mind giving me a ride?" he asked, attempting to lose his serious frown.

The beer had loosened her tongue a little more than she had expected, because the response was out of her mouth before she could think twice. "You mean you don't want to go home with Little Miss _Debbie Does Dallas?_" she asked teasingly.

Stu and Barber laughed right along with her rather witty joke, but Auggie looked too annoyed to even bother faking amusement. He just hiked his eyebrows in the universal unspoken question she immediately recognized—_Will you or not?_

Biting back another quip, she set down her beer. "I shouldn't drink anymore," she announced. "So yeah, I'll take you home."

"Good," Auggie answered with a sharp nod. "Let's get going."

* * *

><p>Once they were in her little VW, Auggie suggested going to her guesthouse instead. She went along with it, if only to figure out what was going on with Auggie's mood. She figured the cheer—<em>Becky<em>—was involved, but she didn't understand why that meant he had to take it out on the rest of them.

Obviously, it was no big surprise to anyone when the car ride back turned out to be one of the most awkward affairs ever.

Annie led him inside, immediately shrugging out of her suede jacket as she flicked on the lights in the house. "What did Jai want?"

She could feel her jaw unhinge as she stared incomprehensibly at Auggie's retreating back. All the tension and silence and he was pissed because of _Jai?_ Jesus, they didn't need to leave the bar for her to tell him about that!

As much as she could feel the rage beginning to boil once more in the pit of her stomach, she pushed it aside to answer his question. "The usual Wilcox bullshit," she told him honestly, watching as he settled down on her little couch and set his folded up cane carefully next to him. She rifled around her big purse until she could find a decent hair tie.

He made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded like amusement but it wasn't until she prompted him that he responded. "You never call him Wilcox," he said.

Annie was still standing by the door, and she felt like she was glued there by her bafflement at his behavior. "What the hell does that mean?" she asked, dropping her purse noisily on the hardwood floor and throwing her hands up in the air.

"Normally, you're the one that calls him Jai, because you're the only one that can stand him for longer than 30 seconds between the two of us," Auggie explained for her benefit. "You always call him by his first name because you actually think there's something worthwhile in there."

Annie managed a step. And then two. She got halfway across the room before she responded flatly, "Yeah. Well, things change."

Auggie tilted his head towards her and managed that half-smirk-half-grimace that only he could make attractive. "Joan," he said. It was a statement, not a question.

"Joan," she agreed, slicking her hair back with her fingers and tying it back into a messy bun at the top of her head. She studied him for a moment longer before admitting, "He took a couple of potshots at you, too. But considering you behave the same way, I suppose that's just par for the course."

His sightless eyes narrowed, and even though she knew she was treading dangerous ground she wasn't taking it back. "Wilcox is an ass," he retorted shortly, standing up to his full height.

"I'm aware," Annie said hotly, crossing her arms over her chest. She was starting to feel hot, but she wasn't sure if it was from rage or the temperature in the room. "That's why I don't trust anything that comes out of his mouth anymore. So I can't understand why you would need to know what he said to me if you know that."

"I do know that," he replied, crossing her coffee table without the use of his cane. "But this is Jai Wilcox we're talking about, and he has a history of feeding you bullshit and you believing every single word."

Her jaw fell open even wider than before. "Where the hell do you get off?" she snapped, stepping so she was toe to toe with Auggie. "I think I can differentiate whether Jai is lying or not without your help! And, not that it was any of your business, he didn't even get the chance to lie to me because I was too busy telling him that if he spent a little less time trying to ruin everyone else's life, he might actually have some friends left!"

Auggie leaned back his head tipping to the ceiling like he couldn't believe her. "Oh, here we go again," he growled. "Wilcox fucks up, and instead of telling him where to shove it you coddle him and see the error of his bitchy, backstabbing ways."

_Bitchy, backstabbing_—the rage, the anger, suddenly it all flashed too clear for her. Annie's honey colored eyes widened dramatically as she stared up at Auggie in horror. "Oh my God, are you actually _jealous_ of Jai Wilcox?"

Faster than she could have ever believed, Auggie's whole face went bright, hot red. "I am _not_ jealous of Jai Wilcox," he answered dangerously, each word coming out strangled.

"Really?" she said dubiously, even as he towered over her. "Then why are you so fixated on what kind of hold Jai might have on me? You're jealous of him, and it doesn't even make sense, because I slept with _you_, not him! Doesn't that count as like a win or something for most guys?"

Maybe that last comment was a little underhanded for the two of them, but to be fair, he was pissing her the hell off.

Instead of gratifying her response with answer, Auggie abruptly did a 180. "Like you have any room to talk," he said shortly. "After you took those shots at Betsy."

"I thought her name was _Becky_," Annie replied pointedly.

"Whatever," he said. "You're telling me that there was no jealousy in your voice at that _Debbie Does Dallas_ line? Somehow, I find that hard to believe."

Annie's mouth opened, but all that came out was a choking noise in the back of her throat. Auggie looked triumphant, but she managed to snap. "If there was a list of women I would be jealous of, I'm pretty sure _Becky_ doesn't even make the bottom of the list."

"Right, because that doesn't sound catty at all," he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

She let out a frustrated growl, her fingers balling up into fists. "Ugh, and there's no way you could _ever_ be wrong!"

Annie expected another vicious retort, but Auggie's hands locked on her shoulders and his mouth found hers with startling accuracy. She took a stumbling step back, but didn't pull away from him. She didn't think she could if she tried.

Correspondingly, there was more anger in the kiss then there had been the night before. It felt like they were still fighting, particularly when his fingers dug into her arms and she bit his lip in retaliation. Her fingers wound into his hair, her mouth sliding hungrily against his. Auggie must've been backing her up as they kissed, because her back hit the wall next to her kitchen and it jarred them both enough they had to break the kiss.

Annie breathed in deeply through her nose, but she couldn't exhale before Auggie's mouth covered hers once more. His hands had done some wandering, and released her shoulders to slip down to her hips while she found her own fisted in the soft material of his sweater.

His fingers caught the stretchy black-and-white fabric and steadily began hiking her skirt around her hips. A small, still cognizant part of her brain realized that this was it. Auggie was right. The sex had been awesome, and like he predicted, they were going to go at it again. She couldn't say she minded too much.

Once he had decided her skirt was up high enough, he went for her panties, hooking his thumbs around the fabric and shoving down. She let him, but when she went for his belt buckle, hand closed around her wrist.

He pulled away, and her eyebrows furrowed. Auggie shook his head slightly, kissed her once more for half a second, and then moved. Down.

"Auggie, wha—" she didn't get the chance to finish whatever thought she was trying to sound out, because by that point he had dropped to his knees. This time, his lips pressed against a completely different part of her anatomy.

As to _why_ Auggie had decided to try this, she wasn't sure. In past relationships, there had always been some kind of planning beforehand, maybe even a discussion. She wasn't expecting him to volunteer for it without so much as a five-second warning for her.

She tried not to react too violently, she really did, but some actions were too involuntary for her to control. Auggie seemed to have prepared for that, his forearm pinning her hipbones to the wall so she couldn't go anywhere if she tried. His free hand wrapped around the back of her kneecap, spreading her legs a little wider as she concentrated on memorizing the ceiling tiles. He added pressure, like he was purposely trying to get her to react, particularly when he pulled her leg over his shoulder.

When he brought his tongue into the picture, a strangled noise escaped the back of her throat. "Son of a bitch," she mumbled under her breath. The only words that were managing to escape her brain were curses and his name.

Even with Auggie providing half the support, it felt like her legs were going to give out at any second. Her fingernails were biting into the skin of her palms; at some point she had balled her hands up into fists, and she wasn't sure how to solve that problem.

He nipped her skin, and her body jerked in surprise. "Oh, Aug," she whimpered, biting down on her lip hard. She wanted to cry out louder, but they were in her guest house and God only knew what would happen if her sister happened to be outside with the trash while she was calling out Auggie's name.

He chuckled at her reaction and the sound felt like it was vibrating through her. She whimpered again, this time unable to form full syllables. His fingers were tapping against the back of her knee, and if she could think it might occur to her that it felt a lot like Morse code.

The pace he was setting was nothing short of leisurely, like he was more interested in memorizing her than maybe getting her off. Tearing her eyes away from the ceiling, she glanced down at him and tried not to moan too much when she saw his dark mop of hair between her legs.

Annie couldn't say what made her think of it, but suddenly she was reminded of Auggie's behavior the night before, and the one demand he had for her. "Oh, God," she muttered, shutting her eyes to possibly block out everything else. Except she could still feel his lips and tongue and teeth against her skin, _slowly_ driving her insane without mercy.

"You want me to talk to you, don't you?" she asked, unable to control the high, pitchy cry at the end of the last word. Auggie was too busy to respond, but she could feel a slight change in his speed and somehow she knew that was his way of answering for her.

Biting back a curse, Annie let her head knock against the wall and inhaled shakily. His tongue slicked against her, and even with her eyes shut tight she couldn't ignore the sensations he was evoking in her. She opened her mouth to say _anything_ and all that came out was a breathy, "_Please._"

The muscles in her legs were starting to twitch, but she knew there was no way he was going to let her go that easily. "Goddammit, Auggie." She needed to just talk without thinking, even it killed her. "Just… faster. Please."

She could feel him smile against her skin, and even if she was going to smack him for it later, she really didn't care right then. Especially not when he finally complied with her pleas and slid two fingers into her easily.

By that point, she had given up on holding anything back. If she could actually listen to any of the words coming out of her life, it would just be incomprehensible blabbering with the occasional curse or utterance of Auggie's name like an oath. No matter, it seemed to do the trick, because he didn't waste a second moment picking up the pace until she moaned desperately.

She didn't know when it happened, or how much time passed, but she did register him tugging on that bundle of nerves between her legs while his fingers curled and she broke. Her mind went perfectly black as neurons fired and misfired.

It took several minutes for her to get her bearings back, and even once she did she felt shaky and was still pinned to the wall like a butterfly. Auggie had moved, and when she tilted her head she realized he had wandered into the kitchen. Running her fingers through her hair shakily—it had mostly falling out of the bun during their heavy make out—she finally stepped away from the wall, nearly stumbling in her heels.

Taking that as a very important sign, she slid out of her black patent stilettos, scooping them both up with one hand while she sort of tried to fix her skirt. She couldn't find her panties anywhere around the floor, but it wasn't like she was in any mood to pull them back on. It was a little late to look anything close to respectable, so she wandered into her kitchen without much concern.

Auggie was polishing off a glass of water—obviously, he knew her kitchen better than she thought he did—and she waited until he finished before she spoke up. "So," she began, leaning her shoulder against the doorway. "That was unexpected."

He set the water down and turned towards her, one corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk. "Really?" he asked. "I thought it was pretty understandable."

Annie's lips parted to disagree, but Auggie continued undeterred. "It was the easiest way to finish our argument."

Letting out a little laugh, she stared at him. "Finish our argument?" she repeated, unable to hide her grin. "That was your way of finishing our argument?"

He walked towards her, and even though she felt absolutely spent his proximity was enough to make her skin tingle. "Well, I don't know about you but I thought it was pretty effective," he replied, and the grin on his face promised even more torture.

Swallowing thickly, she answered, "I'm not arguing with you there. However, in the future, it would probably be best to let our next argument just go its own course."

Auggie laughed as he brushed past her and headed for the living room once more. "Let's be honest, Walker. That argument was heading towards sex and we both know it. I just happened to push it in a slightly different direction."

He took up his previous spot on the couch, and even though she wanted nothing more than to curl up next to him and pass out, a slightly more devious thought had occurred to her. "You pushed it alright," she muttered, making a beeline for her bedroom to drop off her shoes.

By the time she came back, Auggie was still chuckling to himself. "I'd still like a heads-up next time," she replied, wandering back to her little couch. Rather than flopping down next to him, she stepped between his legs, hesitating about half a second before dropping down and straddling him.

His eyebrows hiked but his hands fell to the swell of her hips automatically, anchoring her in place. Even if he was surprised by her actions, he wasn't going to let her go anywhere. "Is this your definition of a heads-up?"

"Not really," she murmured easily, tilting her head so her lips brushed against his ear. Her fingers wound in his hair, exposing his neck a little more. "This is mostly just to get your attention because we need to talk."

"You have my complete and utter attention," he promised, his hands digging into the material of her skirt. "Always have."

She smiled wider. "That I already knew about you," she told him, one of her hands sliding out of his hair and coming to rest at his belt buckle. "However, the whole talking kink thing is pretty new to me."

"It's not a kink," he replied, but he made no move to stop her as she unzipped his pants.

"Sure it's not," she said, ripping open the condom she'd snagged from her bedroom drawer. "Unless this you only pull this stunt with me."

When Auggie didn't immediately answer, she froze. "Huh," she muttered, her nose nuzzling the side of his neck. "Now why's that?"

Auggie shrugged, but the movement was cut off abruptly when she rolled her hips experimentally over him. "I like your voice in my ear," he replied simply. "Particularly when you call out my name."

Annie laughed, her fingers slipping under the waistband of his boxers. "For some reason, I think I can manage that."

$4$

This wasn't exactly where I planned on ending it, but this got to be such a crazy chapter I knew this was the best place. This is what happens when I want a plot to go along with the smut. I get pure madness.

Oh, and I tried to make Jai not a _complete_ asshat. I mean, it's obviously there, but I feel like Annie would try and get him to see the error of his ways, if only because no one else would want to bother. Now if he would actually listen to solid advice, that's a whole 'nother matter.

Doubtlessly, the next chapter probably will take longer than this, but I want to have this fic done before I have to head back to school. What that will take to accomplish, I'm not sure, but I'm determined to try. It helps that I have everything pretty much charted out in my head. It's just a matter of writing it all out.

So what do you guys think? Think this is worth further reading? ;)


	3. These Poetry and Prose and Words

I started experimenting with a new type of writing in this chapter, particularly in relation to how I write 'flashback' scenes. I don't particularly enjoy separating them from what's going on unless absolutely necessary, and I absolutely hate italicizing whole pages of a scene—it hurts my eyes when I read it after a while, but that's just me. So I tried integrating flashbacks into the writing, as I've seen from a number of my favorite authors. Let me know if you think it works, or, alternately, doesn't. I don't want to make this more confusing than necessary. This is only smut, after all. XD

$4$

_Hey, Love, live it up_  
>'<em>Cuz I'm getting closer<br>And I want love, give it up  
>These poetry and prose and words are not enough<em>  
>'<em>Cuz you're more than melody to me<em>  
>…<em>I think<em>

- "More Than Melody," by Anna Nalick

* * *

><p>Wednesday morning was just as satisfying, if not more so, than the day before.<p>

Her muscles were still sore, but her body felt so loose and languid she barely noticed the pain. Even better, she woke up in her own bed this morning so there was no rush to grab the spare set of clothes in her car. Which reminded her, she needed to pack a new set because the one's she wore yesterday were definitely meant for the wash.

Annie did feel a surprising twinge of regret when she remembered Auggie calling a cab and heading back to his own home—but, if they were going keep this going as friends with benefits, there were to be no more adult sleepovers. She just appreciated the extra body heat more than she remembered.

Sliding out of bed, she stretched her arms towards the ceiling and let out a long sigh. Her face screwed up when she felt an out-of-the-ordinary twinge in her neck. If she and Auggie were going to keep up this same rate, she was going to need to pick up yoga again.

After their romp on the couch, they had decided to have a more detailed conversation about their non-relationship. It wasn't easy, because by that point she had pretty much been slumped across the couch with no desire to move, much less think.

"This going to be a regular thing now?" Auggie asked first, testing the waters. Her legs were still sprawled across his, and even though she felt like passing out right where she lay, she cracked one eye open to get a serious look at him.

Inhaling slowly, she weighed her options. She answered carefully. "I'm game if you are."

"We're going to have to be really careful." He answered kind of fast, like he had anticipated her answer, and it made one corner of her mouth curl up. He had since adjusted himself, and she realized that meant she should probably fix her skirt. But if he couldn't see her anyway, what was the harm?

"You're right," she said softly, pushing more of her hair out of her face. "So we'll stick to the rules we set this morning."

Auggie nodded. "No jealousy, no emotions, no sleeping over, no one in the DPD finds out," he recited, ticking each off his fingers. "Think we can manage that?"

She repressed a smile as she recalled the events that took place at the bar and just a few hours ago in this same living room but refrained from pointing out that they had already kind of broken the first rule. "Hopefully," she responded instead.

He chuckled at her optimism, or lack thereof, and pressed a button on the side of his watch. It was earlier than she had expected, but then she remembered that they had left Allen's pretty early after the shenanigans with Jai and then Auggie's tiff. That had left them with a lot of time on their hands.

She had to grin at their dexterity though. They'd had sex one and a half times, and yet somehow had managed to remain fully clothed. Well, mostly. "Do you want me to call a cab then?" she asked, stretching a bit in her spot on the couch. "Because I was planning on showering before I crash."

That hadn't been an offer, truly, but when Auggie glanced over at her with that glint in his eyes she had to reconsider her statement. "Don't start," she said with an over-the-top groan. "We're both too old."

"I beg to differ on that," he disagreed with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. His fingers were walking a steady path up her legs, which twitched involuntarily when he reached the backs of her knees.

Annie sat up, grabbing his hands before they could travel much farther. "Somehow, I'm not shocked that you don't agree," she replied sarcastically, giving his hands a squeeze. "Shower sex always sounds better in theory. There are a lot more bruises in reality."

One of Auggie's eyebrows arched, and she knew she was in trouble. "Is that a challenge?"

"No," she said with a laugh, "But knowing you you're gonna take it as one anyway."

Chuckling to herself, Annie stripped down to her underwear and headed to the bathroom. She wound up proving him wrong, but they had a hell of a time before that happened. Eventually, they weren't going to be able to keep up this record, but she figured until that happened they might as well have as much fun as they could.

She splashed water on her freshly washed face and tried to remember the last time she'd had so much fun with no-strings-attached sex. Even with her actual relationship with Ben, it had been enjoyable, but it had been so short that she spent more time crying over him than she did _with_ him.

Frowning into the mirror, she realized that she and Auggie had only been sleeping together for the past two days—it seemed longer than a paltry 48 hours—but their friendship went back much farther than that. She'd been having fun with him since before this week, only now she could say they had fun with and without their clothes on.

Annie threw on a simple red wraparound dress and the first stilettos she saw. Even if this was the best mood she'd been in in several months, she couldn't let it show. The last thing she needed was Jai or Barber noticing a change in her mood and asking questions. Especially Jai. He was probably still pissed off from the way she talked to him last night.

He would probably be even more pissed off if he ever found out what happened between her and Auggie right after. She traced her rims with dark brown eyeliner, gnawing on her bottom lip as a picture of Jai with an expression of pure terror floated around in her mind. It wasn't particularly nice of her, but that image filled her with more amusement than she would admit to anybody.

Capping her lipstick, she tossed the tube in her oversized patent leather bag and slung it over her shoulder. She unplugged her iPhone from her charger as well, running her fingers through her hair once more. There was no way Jai was ever going to find out, though. Right after they left the shower, Auggie got dressed and called a cab. If and when they ever went back to his apartment, she knew she would drive home once they were done. If they never stayed over, it was less likely they would fuck up.

Being back at the guest house was both the same and completely different. Sure, she missed the guest house and loved being back, but now Danielle knew what she did for a living. It would always be weird when she announced she was heading back to work and her sister would give her this look that made her feel ten different kinds of guilty all over again.

But she could never feel _that_ guilty after Stockholm. She didn't know where she stood exactly—she was plenty pissed at Michael, if only because he was stupid enough to cheat on her big sister with his slutty secretary. But even when she was at her most sisterly, she couldn't quite let Danielle off scot-free. She had been in contact with her old ex-boyfriend, and Annie just couldn't justify that in her mind.

Annie slid the glass door shut behind her, not surprised in the slightest to see an empty kitchen. Lately, things had been really tense, and while she knew both Danielle and Michael were trying to put on a good face for their kids, they couldn't fake it all the time.

She hadn't yet worked up the courage to ask if the D-word was on the horizon, but judging by the general temperature of the room, it seemed like it was inevitable. Pouring coffee into her travel mug, she ruffled her hair again. She didn't like sticking around the house for too long; the simmering anger felt like an explosion could go off at any second.

"Annie! There you are!"

She jumped and nearly spilled the steaming hot coffee all over the place. Worse, the loud noise had triggered something in her and for a truly wild moment she imagined going for the .9mm in her purse. As quick as that impulse came, she pushed it away, setting down the coffee with a shaking hand.

"Jesus Christ, Danielle," she muttered under her breath, spinning the cap onto her travel mug as she turned to face her sister. She could feel her heart still in her throat, but her face was neutral save for wide dark eyes. "Please try not to scare the shit out of me in the future."

Danielle's expression went slack at her comment. She usually tried to keep the cursing to a minimum when she was in the main house, because you never knew when Katia or Chloe could be scampering around. Olivia had warned her a few times before she might get jumpy, and while that did happen sometimes she had never taken it out on her sister before.

Letting out a short sigh, she smiled tightly. "Sorry for snapping at you," she apologized automatically, putting her travel mug down on the kitchen island. "You just—scared me."

Danielle's light brow crumpled in sympathy. "Oh, I'm sorry too, Annie," she said, coming up to her sister and laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I forget sometimes that you're—you know." She finished quickly, throwing a ridiculous superstitious glance over her shoulder for good measure.

"I know," Annie replied, not needing her sister to get into that once more. She didn't want to rehash what was already still a fairly sore subject. "I should leave for work before I'm really late."

"Wait!" Danielle said, grabbing her arm tightly before she could move a muscle. "Who was that guy that was over last night?"

Annie's mouth fell open instinctively, but she snapped it shut and rearranged her expression to something vaguely innocent. "The guy?" she asked softly.

Danielle's blue eyes narrowed. "Yeah, the guy that you drove home with you," she added unnecessarily, battling a grin. "C'mon, tell me. You know you want to. I'm so bored anymore. I need someone to live through vicariously."

She stepped back, trying to put some room between herself and her sister. "It's a shame I've got nothing for you to live vicariously through," she lied, smiling like she really did feel bad for having nothing to tell. "And the guy was just Auggie."

Danielle's jaw dropped open so wide Annie could practically count her molars. "_Auggie?_" she repeated incredulously. "As in the Auggie that you're madly in love with that ran off to Africa for some bimbo?"

In a rare moment of weakness, after she parked the cherry Corvette in the Brooks' driveway her sister had run out demanding to know how she had wound up with the car and she wound up confessing everything. Or, at least the everything that involved Auggie leaving for a different country.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Annie said, throwing up her hands in the universal sign for _slow down, stop, crazy person_. "I am _not_ madly in love with Auggie. I might have had a brief—_there really needs to be an adult word for crush_—whatever, but I was never _in love_ with Auggie."

Swallowing thickly, as the words had felt funny and jumbled on her tongue, she added, "And I wouldn't call that girl a bimbo. I really wouldn't call her anything, because I don't actually know her."

Danielle looked at her blankly, processing all the new information that had just been thrown at her. "Wait… so are you and Auggie dating right now?" she asked, uncomprehendingly.

"No," Annie answered shortly. "Listen, I've really got to get to work before I'm late—"

"But did you sleep together?" Danielle persisted. How she consistently managed to do this, Annie could never understand.

"Danielle," she said, eyes widening in alarm. "I can't believe you—I have to _go_—"

She didn't let go for a second, laughing like this was all one big joke. "Oh, c'mon, Annie. Did you guys have sex?"

Heaving a long sigh, she ran her hand through her wavy hair last time. "You know what, I don't have a whole lot of time, but I'll be honest with you. Yes."

Her sister—her big, motormouth sister—had actually been stunned into silence. Apparently, she was all good with joking with her baby sister, but when presented with the cold hard truth, she couldn't handle it. Pressing her lips together, she added, "And before you ask, we're not going to date, we have no intentions of dating. Just two adults having consensual, strings-free sex. That's it."

Grimacing to herself, she regretted announcing it that way almost instantly. "It's not anything you need to worry about. I'm going go to work now, but we'll talk more when I get back. Okay?"

All Danielle could do was nod weakly, but Annie took that as a positive sign. She smiled bravely, hugged her sister goodbye, and left. She really would talk to Danielle about everything when she got back home.

Slamming the car door shut behind her, she started the ignition. One glance in the rearview mirror, and she immediately realized the error of her ways. In the heat of the moment, she'd blabbed to her sister about her and Auggie. Oops.

Well, maybe she didn't really break the rule. It mostly applied to their coworkers, anyway, which exempted Danielle. So it didn't count. But it probably wouldn't hurt to not mention it to Auggie, just in case.

* * *

><p>She hadn't even walked through the double doors and Annie could already tell shit was going down. The place was humming with activity, something she hadn't seen in a long time. It was rare they received a mission that had the whole DPD in a frenzy.<p>

She didn't know what had everyone running around, but she knew history and booked it to Auggie's office. When all else fails, she could always go to him for questions. And she definitely had a few questions to ask, particularly why everyone in the bullpen looked ready to shoot on sight.

"So, I'm about ten minutes late to work, and it looks like I missed the throw down of the century," Annie announced as she stepped into Tech Ops. Barber and the rest of the guys were nowhere to be found; whether that was a good thing or a bad thing had yet to be seen. "What gives?"

Auggie didn't tear his attention from his computers for a second. "That, Miss Walker, would be because you _did_ miss the throw down of the century," he replied, his eyebrows furrowing as he typed away furiously on his keyboard. "The Furies have descended."

She rounded the side of his desk, her mind racing with possibilities. "Okay, I remember Greek mythology from high school, but I'm not really making the intuitive leap between scary hags crossed with birds and our office." She leaned her hip against the glass edge, carefully studying the intense expression on his face.

"Wilcox."

"Oh, that's not nice," she chastised when the joke finally dawned on her. She ineffectually slapped his shoulder with the back of her hand, hoping that made up for the grin forming on her face.

"Probably not," he quipped. "But I'm hardly the only one thinking it. Wilcox's force is attempting to work alongside the DPD and what he doesn't seem to comprehend is that he's fucked in every sense of the word."

Annie straightened in surprise. That explained the murderous looks on everyone's faces. "How's that possible?" she asked, risking a glance behind her through the glass walls at their coworkers. "Isn't he like our superior or something?"

Auggie shook his head, for the first time tearing his attention away from his supercomputers and focusing on her. "It's not that kind of promotion," he answered. "And even if it was, we still fall under Joan's purview first. So if no one volunteers to work with Wilcox, it's up to her to decide whether or not she wants to force one of us."

"Wow," she muttered. She wasn't sure if she was unbelievably impressed by her coworkers' faithfulness, or kind of scared. For a company that was built on deception and subterfuge, they took betrayal very seriously.

Auggie sighed, rolled his eyes, and turned back to the computer. She was immediately pulled from her thoughts and a bit taken aback by his sudden dismissal. "What?" she asked.

"You're going to volunteer," he said, sounding a little annoyed. It wasn't a question though. He said it like he already knew her answer.

"I didn't say any such thing," she replied defensively, standing up straight.

"I know you didn't." His answer was short, and she could see a wrinkle forming between his eyebrows. "But I know you and I know what you're going to do."

She wanted to get angry at him for his assumption of her, but she knew he was right. Looking away from him, she asked, "Are you going to get all pissed off again?"

His mouth quirked into a wry grin. "No," he said. "If only because I don't feel like having Joan fire me today."

It took her a few seconds to understand her mistake, and her face colored in response. "That's not what I meant," she replied hotly.

"I know what you meant," he told her, wheeling around in his chair, his knees brushing hers. "Which is why I'm going to opt to only say that you don't need to do this. You don't need to prove yourself, and you especially don't need to prove yourself with _this_ job. Now is not a good time to get into something with Wilcox."

"I'm not trying to prove myself," she assured him. "But if no one else will take this mission, I'm going to. Other people are involved in this besides Wilcox, right?"

At his out of character silence, she nodded. "That's what I thought," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not any happier about the way Jai is behaving than you are, but I'm not going to let some interdepartmental boxing match kill a bunch of people that, for all I know, are more innocent than everyone in this entire building."

"So you're right," she finished authoritatively. "I am going to leave and go to Joan's office to volunteer my services for the mission. If someone happens to volunteer or is chosen before I reach her doors, well, then no harm, no foul."

Feeling rather proud of herself for her little speech, she turned on her heel to do just what she said she would. Before she could reach the sliding glass door, Auggie's voice stopped her. "Don't do this, Annie."

Anger built up once more, and once more Annie ignored it. "It's just another mission, Auggie," she said, spinning back to face him. "This one just happens to involve Jai. It's not going to be any different than before."

He looked so serious, for a second she considered taking everything she said back and staying with him until all of this blew over. But that just wasn't in her nature, and no number of dead assassins was going to change that part of her. She was never going to be the girl that backed down because she was too afraid.

She couldn't bear to leave things between them on a bad note, particularly now that he was back once more. "Wish me luck," she said softly, going back to a time when things were a little less complicated for the two of them.

For a heartbreaking second, she didn't think Auggie was going to go for it. Then, with a heavy sigh, he replied, "I didn't think you were the type to need it." He tried for a half smile, but it was too weak. She appreciated it anyway.

"I'm not," she said. "Only for you."

* * *

><p>As it turned out, she needed every ounce of the luck Auggie gave her.<p>

She should've saw it coming in retrospect, because at this point she was starting to agree with the running joke he had about chaos circling her at all times. She didn't really _like_ to think she was a magnet for all things unpredictable, but she was having a damned hard time disproving it anymore.

Truth be told, she hadn't expected Joan to go along with it. It had barely been 24 hours since she was cleared for duty, and she was already volunteering for a new mission. If this had been any other job, she would've bet her next paycheck that Joan would've turned her down. It was only the circumstances and the very small possibility that Joan trusted her a little bit more than the average agent that gave her the edge to be approved.

Plus, at the time, it was only supposed to be surveillance work. The CIA had received intel that one of Jai's operatives was in danger of being burned, but until they received more information, they couldn't move forward. The intel said that there was a Pakistani faction being set up in New Jersey, of all places, and they would just need to do basic surveillance from a hotel to keep an eye on them and see what else they might be able to gather.

So she was assigned to the job. And promptly regretted it.

Though, if she had been capable of proper foresight—or listening to Auggie—she might not have been so willing to volunteer. While it was rewarding to see Jai at his most grateful, she in no way expected this to be the biggest pain in the ass job she'd ever attempted.

The worst part easily had to be being stuck in the world's shittiest hotel in Atlantic City. Worse, she was stuck in the world's shittiest hotel in Atlantic City with only Jai, a tech guy, and a lot of computers to keep her company. For _six days_.

Yeah, that's right. She was stuck with Jai and Spock for a whole week. There was nothing painful about that in the slightest. She could practically hear Auggie's laughter in her head.

There was no practically about it. The three calls she'd sent his way had all started and ended with him laughing at her as she threw thinly veiled threats and growls Jai's way. To say Wilcox had gotten insufferable about missions in the last few months was possibly the biggest understatement of all time.

But she should've known better to think that this was going to be the _only _crappy part of her mission. She really needed work on that whole 'foresight' thing.

Two emptied clips, a bullet-grazed shoulder, and a few dislocated knuckles later, Annie was sitting on a plane back to D.C. and counting her blessings that she didn't have to spend any more time confined with Jai and Leonard. That was seriously Jai's tech guy's name. _Leonard_.

Allowing herself a little smile, she tilted her head all the way up until she was staring at the bland ceiling of the plane. It wasn't that horrible of a drive, but after the week she'd had she would have rather gone back to that warehouse and taken a bullet to the head than spend an extended car ride with Jai and Leonard. The plane ride cost a little more, but Auggie and Joan hadn't argued with her on the subject so she was allowed a quick redeye flight back.

Even better, because it was 3 in the morning on a flight to a city that could've been done in the span of a couple train rides, the plane was almost empty. Just her and a few businessmen that all appeared to be sound asleep.

Actually, now that she was surrounded by all of this silence, she realized she hadn't heard much of anything from Auggie. Not since the day everything hit the fan and they were trapped in that dusty old warehouse. Auggie had been in her ear, like always. And, like always, she was positive that without him she would've died.

But after that, she couldn't remember a single instance when they spoke. All calls she made to the DPD had been handled by Stu, and once Barber, plus a few times Joan had been around and updated her on various information. Which meant that either Auggie had disappeared—_again_—and no one had told her, or he was going out of his way to not talk to her. She couldn't actually decide which option bothered her more.

But fortunately enough, one of the few positives of being back on a surveillance mission was the opportunity to give serious consideration to her non-relationship with Auggie. While she did have six days to contemplate jamming a Bally's hotel pen into Jai's eye socket, she also had six days to think about how having sex with Auggie on a regular basis was going to have an effect on her day-to-day life.

To start, there was no way they could possibly keep up this once-a-night thing. She was a far cry from old, but this job had a way of doing a hell of a number on her body and, most importantly, sleep schedule. She was doing a surveillance mission and in about six days she had barely gotten more than four hours sleep each night.

Her body would find so many different ways to punish her if she tried to repeat what happened on the first night—or the second—_every_ night. Plus, Danielle would probably start to wonder where she disappeared every single night for only a couple hours.

Immediately, Annie winced. Danielle. Her sister had called her a few times during the week, and every time she had let the calls go to voicemail. Once she got back, the first thing on her list was to have a long conversation with Danielle. She knew she wanted to talk more about what Annie had admitted on Tuesday. Danielle did not let things go easily, _particularly_ when they had to do with her baby sister and the guy she was currently screwing.

But Annie was confident that Danielle would understand. Obviously Auggie was not just any guy, and she didn't make it a habit of hooking up with random men. Plus, Danielle had been the one to point Annie in this direction all those months ago.

This probably wasn't what Danielle had intended when she first pointed out that her voice apparently 'changed' when she spoke to Auggie, but this was how the chips happened to fall. And she didn't mind this outcome, regardless of what Danielle might have to say about it.

Shutting her eyes, Annie resolved to do two things after she was debriefed and left work: talk to Auggie and talk to Danielle.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Joan, where's Auggie?"<p>

Several hours had passed since she left the plane, and at the moment she wished she could still be there. That brief, 20-minute snooze had been the best of her life, and coming back to do paperwork just seemed like rubbing salt in an already gory wound. But, as she continued to remind herself every minute, at least it she wasn't trapped in a small hotel room with Jai and Leonard anymore.

"I sent him home," Joan replied in a clipped tone, taking the proffered papers from Annie. She knew Joan's annoyance wasn't reserved for her; according to Stu, she had been murderous ever since Jai had single-handedly sent the mission into a tailspin. "He hadn't gotten much sleep in the last 48 hours. I suggest you do the same."

Annie nodded and wisely kept her mouth shut. She wasn't going to look a gift-day-off in the mouth, but she couldn't help catching Stu's eye. She didn't know him as well as she'd like to, but the last two months had given her the opportunity to work with him in a closer manner. He wasn't Auggie, but he also didn't try to be, and she appreciated him for that.

Stu shot a hand out towards her, and she realized there was a folded piece of paper clutched between his fingers. "I didn't read it, don't worry," he said, and she couldn't tell if he was serious or joking as she gingerly took the note from him. "I wouldn't want to risk the malware and broken nose from Auggie. When Joan said she sent him home, she really means it was that or threatening to have him forcibly removed from the building."

At her hiked brow, Stu gave a small shake of his head. "It's better that you didn't see it," he muttered, backing up towards the Tech Ops. "He was practically foaming at the mouth at one point."

Annie's mouth dropped open slightly, her fingers wrapping around the note. What had she done during the mission to get Auggie so angry? Plenty of ridiculous bullshit had gone on, but she couldn't remember a single thing that she did wrong.

She headed back to her car, fingering the strap of her overnight bag thoughtfully. The note Stu had given her was burning a hole in her back pocket, but she wasn't going to read it until she was alone in the car. She didn't know what Auggie had to say to her, but just in case she didn't want anyone she worked with to see a visible reaction.

Shutting the car door behind her, Annie shifted until she was sufficiently comfortable behind the wheel in her little car. She wasted some time arranging her bag and purse and leather jacket in the passenger seat next to her, delaying the moment she had to unfold the small square of paper that would undoubtedly reveal her fate with Auggie.

A dark voice in the back of her head pondered if he was breaking off their non-relationship, but she knew that was preposterous. There was no way Auggie was cold enough to do it that way, especially not when they would still need to see each other at work every day.

She unfolded the square slowly, ignoring the sight tremor in her hands. Before she could even read the words, she knew something was off in Auggie's writing. He couldn't see, so frequently what notes he wrote her would always be written in wide-spaced, neatly blocked print. Right away, she could see his writing was more hurried, slanted, like he was in a rush and his hand couldn't scribe as fast as his brain could think.

_Come to my apartment when you're done. Auggie._ That was all the note said. Annie's eyebrows hiked as she flipped over the paper, examining it on both sides, but to no avail. That was it. One simple command. _Come to my apartment_. If she hadn't been so curious and more than a little fearful, she might have been a little pissed at him for expecting her to drop everything and run to him.

Thrusting her key in the ignition, she shrugged to herself. He did tell her to come to his apartment, only once she was done. Done was a pretty large umbrella, which could include everything from paperwork to Joan to a finally having that chat with Danielle.

She winced at the inadvertent reminder as she pulled out of her parking space. That was a conversation that could be put off until the following morning—she loved Danielle, but she already had a pretty good idea of what she was going to say. The stuff with Auggie, however, was a complete question mark, and therefore required all of her attention.

She wondered if he wanted to talk about Jai. Her week in Atlantic City had been aggravating on a number of levels, and it had started off on a pretty awful note to begin.

"So I hear Anderson didn't go home with the coed," Jai announced halfway through unpacking all their belongings in the shoebox-sized hotel room. She could hear the unspoken question at the end of his sentence—_he went home with you?_—but she didn't dignify it.

"No, he didn't," she replied shortly. There was no point in lying to Jai, not when she could tell he already knew the bare bones, so she settled on a half-truth. "Not that it's any of your business, but we hung out at my house and then I took him home."

Leonard—though she didn't know that was his name at the time—seemed like he was trying to look too busy fiddling around with his computers. It was a smart move. Jai had managed to find the one subject that would set her off more than anything, and it was better if he stayed out of the line of fire.

There was a nasty smirk on Jai's face, but she didn't let him say whatever he was thinking. Instead, she angrily threw her small duffle bag on the bed and announced, "I really thought we had gotten past this last night."

"This?" Jai repeated, going from conniving to innocent in the span of a breath. My, what a lifetime education in espionage could do for a man.

"This," Annie said again, ripping open her bag more forcefully than necessary. "Whatever pissing contest you and Auggie have been locked in, I want no part of it. You can be bitch to him all you want, but you leave me the hell out of it. I'm _helping you_, remember?"

That did the trick, she was pleased to note. She had noticed a while ago that Jai didn't like owing people favors, an odd trait in a business that used favors and debts as currency. He took her not-subtle-at-all hint to drop it, and luckily he was intelligent enough not to bring up the topic of Auggie Anderson again the length of their mission.

That was one of her few strokes of luck she thought as she flipped on her left signal, driving to Auggie's address on pure autopilot. Everything else had gone to hell in a hand basket, and she wished she could've seen it coming better.

The only rule about this mission—and this was the rule that Joan drilled into _everybody's_ head—was that under no circumstances was Jai allowed to leave the hotel building. They didn't know how far up the information had been leaked, but no matter what no good could come from him showing his face around AC.

Annie pretty much took it upon herself to become the courier; she tracked the two Pakistani terrorists that the CIA knew about, dropped off some listening devices in a few particular bars, and brought food up to the hotel room. While this did sound interesting on paper she could only leave their hotel at very specific hours. And those hours only lasted about 20 minutes.

She did understand Jai's frustration—she didn't get to leave the room often, but that was still more than he was able. Unlike the guys like Barber and Leonard, she and Jai were not people that were meant to be locked indoors for hours and days on end. Sitting still for ten hours was more excruciating that chasing or being chased by assassins.

So Annie did empathize with Jai and his growing frustration. But as the week wore on, that empathy only went so far because she was still trapped in a room with him as he proceeded to act like a little bitch.

And all the empathy in the world could not make her understand him going into the bathroom and sneaking out of the room. Yeah. Like he was 13 and she was his strict dad.

Annie pulled into a parking spot. She had gotten back to Auggie's faster than she had anticipated. She had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that driving had become secondary. Hopefully she hadn't been speeding too much.

She hazarded a glance in her rearview mirror, more out of habit than anything. There was no particular reason to bother. Her hair was still a mess and pulled in a ponytail, half to get it out of the way and half to look semi-presentable for her flight. She was in jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt for comfort, so at least she didn't look as fucked up as she felt.

After Jai had snuck out it had taken approximately ten minutes for everything to go to hell—coincidentally just long enough for her to on the phone with Auggie and demand he activate Jai's GPS.

Annie smiled at the elderly woman walking her chubby Corgi—she didn't know her name, but she had seen her around Auggie's apartment complex several times. Plus, she had just about the world's cutest fat dog and there was no way she could be unfriendly to that.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Annie hissed. With the help of Auggie and the tracker on Jai's phone it had only taken her about ten minutes to locate him crouched behind a crate in a warehouse that distinctly smelled like it used house find. She crouched behind the crate next to him, glaring pointedly at the Glock clutched in his hand.

Jai's jaw clenched, and it looked like he was fighting the urge to curse until he was blue in the face. "This was _my_ mission," he hissed, resting the back of his perfectly coiffed head against the wooden crate. "These are _my_ people. _I_ should be the one interrogating these assholes if they're in danger."

Shifting uncomfortably in her heels—seriously, why did the floor look slimy?—she shot him a furious glare. "So you're going to what? Shoot them until they tell you if they know your people that are supposed to be _their_ people are spies?"

When Jai didn't answer, she took it as confirmation. "I'm sorry, Jai, but are you _high_?"

Those were the last words out of her mouth when the whole world exploded around her. See, Jai's asshole friends had AK-47s. And Jai had a goddamned _Glock_.

Auggie had barely gotten them out of dodge—Jai had tried to tell her not to call him, but with crates exploding all around them left and right and him sporting a fresh bullet graze, she wasn't planning on listening to his advice. Auggie was able to point them in the right direction while simultaneously sending a whole fleet of FBI, CIA, and New Jersey State Troopers descending on the building.

She could still hear him shouting into her cellphone as what seemed a lot like hell rained down all around them. He couldn't get to her because he was back at Langley, but that didn't mean he was going to use everything in his power to get her back safely.

And she did get back safely, barring a few cuts and bruises on her torso and an ugly scrape on her left bicep. But she had been injured much worse in the past, and she was happy to get back in as decent condition as possible. Now if only the same could be said for Jai…

Annie stopped at Auggie's door and took a deep breath. With the following exhale, she let her muscles relax, feeling the best she had in the last six days. Even if Auggie wanted to stop sleeping together—annoying, but doable—she could handle it, just like she could handle every other curveball in her life. She raised her hand and rapped her knuckles on his door three times.

She had left her duffle bag and jacket in her car, and as she heard movement on the other side of the door, she wondered if she should have grabbed it. Too late now.

The door slid open, and she only had a few moments to take in Auggie's appearance. He somehow looked worse than her, with bags under his eyes and shadow on his jaw that had to be more than a day old. He was also wearing possibly the rattiest sweatpants she'd ever seen. That was about all she was able to absorb, because then Auggie reached out, catching her arm with startling accuracy, and yanked her towards him.

She didn't have much time to react—all she got out was a strangled half-syllable of a noise—because Auggie's mouth covered hers. Her back hit the cold metal door, but she didn't know when he had closed it behind them in the first place.

He flattened her body between him and the door, trapping purse between their shoulders. She bet the heavy chain strap was digging into his skin, but he didn't seem to notice, much less care. She might not have cared as well if he hadn't pinned both her arms to her sides.

She hadn't had the opportunity to kiss him back before he yanked his head back. Annie felt like she had left her brain by the door as she stared at the devastated expression on his face with bafflement.

"I thought you were going to die," Auggie whispered, and he sounded like he was in so much pain that she wanted to kiss him, hug him, do anything to make him feel better.

He had her arms pinned, and she wasn't sure what he would do if she kissed him, so all she said was, "But I'm not dead."

"I know." His forehead dropped down until it rested against hers. "I just heard gunfire and explosions."

"I know," she repeated, repentant. His fingers dug into the skin above her elbows, but it didn't feel controlling. "But this happens all the time, remember? She tried to laugh, smile, to translate her poor joke, but it failed pretty badly.

"I _know_ that," he said, and she was startled when his dark eyes flashed and his grip tightened. "I _remember_ that. Why do you think I left for Africa? I'm tired of listening to you almost dying and not being able to do anything!"

Her mouth fell open and it felt like he had just pulled all the breath out of her body. Auggie squeezed his eyes shut even though it didn't make a difference. "I tried to stay there but every day I missed D.C. more. And my job. And Joan. And Stu. And everybody else. Just not Jai."

She didn't know if it was appropriate, but a burble of laughter past her lips involuntarily. Actually, it was probably completely inappropriate.

"But mostly, I missed you."

The laughter died. His eyes opened slowly as a sigh slid out. "I couldn't stay there knowing I had run just because it hurt too much to hear you in danger. That wasn't fair to you. That wasn't fair to anybody. Hell, that wasn't even fair to me. I was tanking my career all because I couldn't listen to the sound of one agent being shot at."

He continued, letting his forehead rest against her for one comforting moment. "Even worse, once I was _with_ Parker in Africa, I couldn't think of anything but you. You drive me to leave the continent rather than deal with listening to the sound of you repeatedly almost dying, but the second I'm away it's like the whole thing never happened and I just wanted to turn back and go straight home."

Her lips parted, but no sound came out. For him to throw this all at her seemed too sudden, too abrupt. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" she asked quietly. Her dark eyes were huge and it felt like her inhales weren't bringing nearly enough oxygen into her body.

The question seemed to frustrate him. "I don't know why I'm telling you this now," he said, his fingers digging into her arms again.

She still couldn't figure out what to tell him—he had left to get away from her, but not for the reason that she might have assumed. Hesitantly, her hands slipped up under his arms, gently cupping his jaw. Her thumbs brushed over his cheekbones and she whispered the only words that she could think might help. "I'm sorry," she said genuinely.

Auggie's eyes slid shut and on impulse she closed he distance between them, kissing him sincerely. A noise escaped his throat that sounded like a sob but she didn't pull away.

With a helpless groan, he released her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her flush against his body, and finally allowing her to drop her purse. This time, she groaned, her fingers slipping from his jaw and brushing against the ends of his shaggy hair.

He pulled her away from the door, but she hardly noticed the difference as he backed them up. Auggie had such a secure grip on the small of her back that she couldn't separate from him, not that she was going to try. Her hands moved, completely threading through his hair and encouraging him to deepen the kiss.

He didn't push her, even when his tongue parted her lips. He was being purposely gentle, his fingers tracing little circles on her back over her shirt. She felt like he was treating her like she was breakable, made of glass, like if he didn't hold her just so she would fall to pieces. His behavior was making her knees shake but she knew there was no way he was letting her fall.

When he finally let her up for air, she realized that he had managed to travel them halfway across his apartment. His kiss hadn't felt demanding or controlling but now that he had pulled away she felt a lot like she was drowning. Her head came down to rest on his collarbone. "I am alive," she murmured, shifting to wind her arms around his neck.

His fingers curled into her t-shirt, exposing more of her skin. "I know," he whispered, and she gasped when the pads of his fingers brushed against her back.

"So long as you're around, the chance of me not coming back goes down to almost zero," she told him. He might not have wanted to hear it but it was something she had always known.

Before he could start to argue, her head tilted, lips brushing against his neck. He went very still, which meant she had to go still in response. She continued to trace his collarbone, a small smile forming as he let out a heavy sigh. Her nose brushed against the tendons in his neck, teasing him as much as applying her own silent apology to his skin.

He didn't let her get much further when her lips came into contact with the soft material of his t-shirt, twisting his neck and catching her mouth effortlessly. Annie kissed him back automatically, but the gentleness remained as before. She realized how much she missed this after being gone less than a week. As heat spread throughout her body, it was remarkable how familiar this had become for her.

He still tasted like coffee and beer and something sweet, and when he nipped her bottom lip a zing still shot down her spine. They had only hooked up a few times but like with their jobs, it hadn't taken long to find a perfect rhythm between them.

They broke apart with a smack and he muttered, "You can't die on me." Annie tried to inhale as much air as possible before he dipped his head down and kissed her again.

"I won't," she whimpered, her back arching as his fingers continued to dance along her skin. "I promise."

The backs of her knees hit his bed and she would have fallen if not for Auggie's lock on her waist. When they had started moving towards his bed again, she had no clue.

He inched her shirt along her lean waist, asking as gently as he could muster. She didn't have patience for that, and quickly ripped her shirt over her head without any more prompting.

Oddly enough, he didn't seem to appreciate her haste. He crowded her, knocking her onto the bed before she could blink. She let out a soft laugh and attempted to wrestle him for the top, but he had her pinned before she could put up much of a fight.

"Stop squirming so much," he instructed, planting a kiss on her still parted lips.

Annie tried to follow his instruction, but it wasn't easy when his hands ghosted along her sides. His tongue traced the swell of her bottom lip and he turned it into a kiss before she could get antsy.

"I made Barber cry," he muttered between kisses. He was mapping her stomach with his finger pads, noting every time a muscle twitched or shivered.

"W-what?" she asked, tilting her head against the pillow so she could better see him. She knew what he had said but she was sure he had to be kidding.

"After we got you out of Jersey, I made Barber cry," he elaborated, kissing the side of her nose affectionately.

His thumb brushed over the fabric of her bra, and she found that she still shivered like he had touched actual skin. "W-why?" she stuttered, running her hands back and forth across the planes of his back.

"He was being difficult," he said with an offhanded shrug. His eyes were shut, and she was mildly confused to see concentration on his face. She couldn't help but watch him fascinatedly as he traced her features with his nose and lips.

"He asked why I was so angry," he continued, one of his hands sliding under her back while his other slid one of her bra straps down her shoulder. Her eyes closed on their own when he kissed between her brows. "That made me angrier."

"So you made him _cry?_" she asked disbelievingly, pulling her head from the pillow to examine his expression. "You shouldn't have yelled at Barber because of me." She threaded her fingers though his hair and brushed his bangs out of his face. It was redundant, but this definitely felt different than their last few times together.

"Oh well," he replied simply, pulling his head up and planting a quick kiss on her lips. His eyes still looked so serious, even though they were joking around like usual. Before he could pull away from her completely, she tugged his hair and kissed him deeply.

Once he kissed her back, she released him, letting her hands slide down his back and pulling his shirt out of his pants. Annie pressed her palms in the hot, smooth skin of his back. He groaned into her mouth, his fingers digging into her sides.

They broke away just long enough for him to gasp her name. Just like in the past, his voice made her shiver even though she was far from cold. He hooked his hands under her knees and pulled her closer. When his hips pressed into hers, she whimpered helplessly.

"You have got to stop trying to get yourself killed," he muttered again, tearing his mouth away from hers. His fingers had moved to the snap of her pants, but when he didn't immediately do anything, she realized he wasn't waiting on her to reply.

She sucked in some air and said, "I'm not trying to get myself killed."

Auggie kissed her hard in response, his teeth catching her bottom lip in punishment. His hands moved away from her pants but slid behind her back, deftly unhooking her bra. Encouraged, Annie pushed his shirt up, exposing more deliciously familiar skin to notice what it sounded like.

He didn't even have her bra off before his thumb found her nipple. She gasped into his mouth, her back arching as her fingers dug into his skin. Some sort of noise escaped the back of her throat, but she was too focused on the feeling of his skin to notice what it sounded like.

But she would've bet most of the money in her bank account that Auggie had been paying attention to exactly what that noise sounded like. He continued to stroke her skin until she could feel her blood start to heat up and she gasped out, "Auggie."

The pressure of his fingers increased and sped up, making her shiver and writhe. There was no way she was going to stop him long enough to remove his shirt, so she abandoned that plan, letting her hand slide down his sides, his front, his back, until she settled on his waistband. When her nails had scraped his ribcage he inhaled through his nose, and she catalogued that reaction for later on.

Auggie broke the kiss long enough to rack a lungful of air for the both of them and then covered her mouth with his again. His hands cupped her skin until she whimpered and hurried her movements, shoving his sweatpants down as quickly as her fingers would allow. Annie's hands slid under his boxers, brushing against his hipbone, and continued lower.

His head yanked away from her, his blank eyes black with lust. She much preferred this over the serious look from earlier. She didn't stop or let go, her breath leaving her mouth in heavy pants. Her neck tilted back against the pillow, eyes shutting momentarily.

When she changed her rhythm he dropped his head into the crook of her neck. She froze when he let out a noise. That was the closest sound to a whine she had ever heard escape his lips. Annie chuckled evilly and changed the rhythm again.

Auggie didn't let her continue much longer. He unbuckled her jeans and shoved them off, catching a little where her hips pressed against hers. It didn't take him long to correct the problem. He shoved everything off her in one go, and she used her foot to help him once he hit her knees.

She returned the favor with his ratty sweatpants while he yanked off his t-shirt and the second they were done they returned to their positions. Auggie drew her close, letting his forehead fall against hers like earlier before. Their breath mixed together, and she cupped his head in her hands.

There was a moment of pure stillness between them, and before it could end, he whispered, "I missed you."

Her heart clenched once more, out of sync with the steady pulse of want that coursed through her body. "I missed you, too," she replied.

They both let their words sink in, and then Auggie reached for his nightstand. Her fingers threaded along the back of his neck, and her ankles hooked around the back of his knees, drawing him even closer. When he brought back the condom, she gently pulled it from his fingers. Annie's hand closed around him, and he hissed weakly.

Once she was finished, she pulled him back in for one more kiss. He tilted his head, his tongue meeting hers in the middle and tangling together.

Annie's breath caught in her throat when he entered her. She had been prepared for it, obviously, but the inherent closeness after everything that they had said to one another knocked the wind out of her. As her legs tightened around him instinctively, she could feel a sting behind the corners of her eyes that couldn't possibly tears…

She didn't get the chance to decide, because Auggie started to move, and another gasp tore out of her throat. It had only been a week, so there was no reason why she should feel so sensitive, but maybe this time it had less to do with her body and more to do with her mind. She locked on even tighter around him, her fingers stroking his jaw in perfect time. The separation proved too much for him, and he dipped his head down, sealing his mouth with hers.

When they broke between kisses, she whispered his name, and he kissed her even harder. Her body felt slick, and every time he moved a particular way she felt her nerves misfire pleasantly. "Please," she whimpered.

Annie's back arched just a little more, taking him deeper and making her cry out instinctively. She cursed as tiny shocks coursed down her spine. "I need you to—please—move—"

He tilted his hips and she moaned in appreciation. He stayed like that, panting heavily along with her. She moved against him in tandem, nearly slipping a few times as she gripped his shoulders tight enough to bruise.

Half-mindedly, her head tilted, lips catching on his throat and licking and tracing the sweat along his skin. Her nails bit into his back, and began whimpering his name like a mantra directly into his ear. Annie couldn't possibly last much longer.

"God, I missed you." It didn't make any sense to say, but it clicked in her brain and tumbled out of her lips before she could think about it. Auggie seemed to appreciate it, because he picked up an even quicker pace than before.

He groaned, finding her lips again. "Annie," he murmured. His voice was tight, strained with desire. Their bodies were moving so instinctively that there was no way that they could ever stop. "Annie, I can't—I won't be able to—"

Annie hushed him, lacing her fingers through his hair and pulling him back for one more kiss. Their foreheads touched together, noses bumping as the air seemed to heat even further. "Shh, it's fine," she whispered, her lean legs locking even tighter around his hips.

Auggie's eyes locked with hers, and she had one of those wild moments when she could've sworn he actually _could_ see her, and then he buried his head into her neck, groaning her name like a curse, a plea, and a prayer all rolled into one.

When they finally slowed down and he collapsed, panting over her, she didn't let him go, not for a while. Normally the weight felt suffocating to her, but tonight it was anything but. She needed to be this close to someone. This close to Auggie.

Annie didn't technically have a release, but as she lay there panting with him her body was so relaxed and boneless that it felt like she might as well have. Her mind felt cloudy and everything hummed pleasantly.

Even after he got up and disposed of the condom, she still didn't want to leave. But that was part of the deal they had made, even if they had already broken the first two—three?—rules. So reluctantly, Annie sat up out of bed, marveling at their inability to ever actually get under the covers when they were—whatever they were.

Doing a quick scan of the room, she tried to locate all of her clothes. Her bra was easy enough to find, as it was next to on the bed, and her underwear and jeans had to be somewhere on the floor, but as for her top, she was way less sure. And, actually, when had she taken off her shoes?

Without even having the ability to see her, Auggie somehow sensed that she was preparing for her exit, because the second he was in reach of the bed his hand clenched around her wrist. His heavy eyebrows were drawn together, and he was every bit as serious as he was before they fell in bed. "Stay," he said, asking without words. "Please."

Even before they started having sex—she needed to find a word that was less clinical to describe _this_—she never could have said no to him when he said please. Now she was absolutely hopeless.

"Okay," she whispered, letting him draw her in for one more kiss, which chaste and sweet compared to everything they had done in the past. This time, when they slid into the covers, they automatically sought one another out, wrapping limbs together as close as possible.

They were breaking one more of their unbreakable rules. But, she thought before surrendering to sleep, was that really a problem?

$4$

IT'S FINISHED.

Oh my God, this took FOREVER, and that was totally my fault, but I do cite a number of circumstances. Life, the real-fiction book I'm attempting to write (well, let's see how much I can finish…), and my short story submission for my college's lit magazine (ya'll would be proud of me, it's _Buffy_-inspired)… but I was _determined_ that after I finished all of that I _would_ complete Chapter 3 of _More Than Melody_. This is one project I am not giving up on, goddammit.

There should be only one more chapter left to go, provided everything goes the way I'm picturing in my head on paper. It'll probably be yet another long'un, but I'm finding it damn near impossible to do anything short with this sucker.

Also, before you all click the review button (haha), I want you to **FOCUS:**

In the next month, Operation CAFÉ on Livejournal will be posting the nominations of the 2011 Distinguished Awards. **Spyridon** (who runs the whole it, lovely thing that she is) has quite an array of nominations up for grabs, ranging from Outstanding Depiction of Auggie and Annie (and one for other characters) to Author of the Year. There's even a nom for Outstanding Erotic Fiction. ;)

Anyway, you can nominate anyone (and everyone) until **April 27****th**, at which point voting begins. All stories/authors are up for grabs, because she's including fics that have been created since the start of the show. So if you know someone that deserves a shoutout (and I'm sure you do, because there are _so_ many talented people in this fandom), I suggest trekking over to her site and casting your nomination. We'll really appreciate it. :D

In case you guys have forgotten the website, it's operation-cafe. livejournal . com. Just remove the spaces and tell them who you think rocks on _CA_!


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